Devotion | Do you want to live forever?

Do you want to live forever?

The recent Channel 9 Tv show hosted by Tracy Grimshaw and Dr Nick Coatsworth tracked a range of ordinary Aussies who wanted to make some changes to improve their life expectancy and quality of life.

The question of what happens when we die is one of those big questions that really matters, because it shapes how you live your life in the now.

The Bible answers that question, not with a philosophy but with a person. In comforting Lazarus’ sister, Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die; and those who live and believe in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn 11)

He is the key, because he is the only one to have gone into death and broken free of its power once and for all at Easter. In Jesus’s birth, life, death and resurrection, the future, heaven, eternity, broke into our present.

On Saturday, I head off on some leave. I booked the flight about a year ago, the ticket is confirmed and the seats selected. I have been living that reality all year, the future breaks into the now, shaping the present and filling the future with expectant hope.

Jesus declares that ‘those who hear my words and believe in him who sent me have eternal life. They will not be judged, but have already passed from death to life.’ John 5:24. Did you notice the tense of those verbs? In our baptism, we share in Jesus’ death and resurrection (Rom 6:4), our place is paid for.

So wait now, ticket in hand, seat confirmed, with confidence that what lies ahead is better than your wildest dreams.