There is a lasting life waiting for us

1 Peter 1:23-25 (NLT)
23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 24 As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass;    their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. 25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.”[words from Isa 40:6-8] And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

From Matthew Henry’s Commentary - Man, in his utmost flourish and glory, is still a withering, fading, dying creature. Take him singly, all flesh is grass. In his entrance into the world, in his life and in his fall, he is similar to grass. Take him in all his glory, even this is as the flower of grass; his wit, beauty, strength, vigour, wealth, honour—these are but as the flower of grass, which soon withers and dies away. The only way to render this perishing creature solid and incorruptible is for him to entertain and receive the word of God; for this remains everlasting truth, and, if received, will preserve him to everlasting life, and abide with him forever.  The prophets and apostles preached the same doctrine. This word which Isaiah and others delivered in the Old Testament is the same which the apostles preached in the New.

 

C. .S Lewis once wrote, War makes death real to us: and that would have been regarded as one of its blessings by most of the Christians of the past. They thought it good for us to be always aware of our mortality. I am inclined to think they were right. All the animal life in us, all schemes of happiness that centered in this world, were always doomed to a final frustration. In ordinary times only a wise man can realize it. Now the stupidest of us knows. We see unmistakably the sort of universe in which we have all along been living, and must come to terms with it. If we had foolish un-Christian hopes about human culture, they are now shattered. If we thought we were building up a heaven on earth, if we looked for something that would turn the present world from a place of pilgrimage into a permanent city satisfying the soul of man, we are disillusioned, and not a moment too soon. [Citation: C. S. Lewis, "Learning in War-Time," from a sermon preached in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, 1939.]

This past week Dallas Cowboy Josh Brent was arrested for intoxicated manslaughter Saturday after being involved in a car accident that killed teammate Jerry Brown. Sadly Jerry was killed early in his life and whatever dreams he may have had went with him.

The plane carrying Jenni Rivera, a popular Mexican-American singer, crashed and killed all aboard. Everyone and everything in the crash was destroyed beyond recognition. The impact was so powerful that the remains of the plane "are scattered over an area of 250 to 300 meters. The dreams she and those with her had also vanished.

Those are some of the deaths that have been highlighted this week. However they are not alone. I dare to estimate the number of deaths that took place this week from accidents, murders, and natural causes. Our human bodies will eventually die whether in an expected time or more tragically in an unexpected time.

There is only one hope for life and that is an eternal life in heaven with God. It’s a life of immeasurable hope without the pain of this world; for in heaven there is only joy. All God asks is that we acknowledge our sins to Him; be willing to turn from those sins; and on faith believe in His Son Jesus Christ who died for our sins. There is hope of life beyond this world and I pray all grab hold of it while they can.