“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”  John 11:25–26

Have you ever watched a glorious sunset and wished you could hold on to that beautiful moment forever?

While we all have days we’d never want to relive, there are moments in life, filled with such passionate joy, we wish they’d never end.  I’m reminded of the time my young son stood sobbing as he waved goodbye to his beloved grandma and grandpa who had been visiting.  “Can’t we all just stay together?” he asked sadly.

The beauty of the created world and our relationships with one another are affected by separation, death and decay.  That wasn’t God’s original plan and it’s not His plan for your future.

You were meant for more.

When God created this world, He said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit.  These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came…And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:11-12).  Isn’t it fascinating that God built regeneration into His beautiful and nourishing world; this world was meant for more.

So when man said no to living by God’s rule, death came to every living thing. But in his substitutionary death, the Bible says that “Jesus broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality” (1 Timothy 1:10).  Here are Jesus’ words:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die (John 11:25–26).  The endings, the losses, the deterioration we live with now, are only temporary conditions for the follower of Jesus Christ.

 

Resource reading: John 11:1-44