“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19 NLT)
“And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7 ASV)
“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.” (Colossians 3:1 NLT)
There are two aspects to life and death that have become very important to me. The first aspect deals with the “quality” of my life. The second aspect deals with the “quantity” or length of my life. I have found that these same two aspects relate to death as well. First, let’s define “life” and “death.”
In scripture we find teaching pertaining to what we consider “natural” (temporal or mortal) life and death, as well as “spiritual” (eternal or immortal) life and death. Life comes from being attached,or connected, to a life source. Death is simply the detachment, or separation, from that life source. When you uproot a plant from the soil (its life source) it withers and dies. When you remove a fish from water (its life source) it suffocates and dies. When our spirits are separated by sin from God (our life source) we are spiritually dead.
Natural life is the result of my body being attached to my spirit. It is what I am living right now in my physical body. My current body is mortal (death bound). As long as my spirit is housed in my body I am alive. The day my spirit leaves my body it dies. After death, my body will at some point be resurrected and become immortal.
Spiritual life begins the moment I accept Jesus as my Savior and goes on forever. My spirit is made new, and is attached to the Spirit of God. Adam and Eve were originally spiritually alive as they were attached to God (He breathed His spirit into Adam and he became a “living soul”). When they sinned their spirit’s were separated from the Spirit of God and they died spiritually. This opened the door to sin and physical death.
Everyone will live forever, the question is where. For those who through Jesus Christ have inherited Eternal Life eternity will be spent in the presence of God in the Kingdom of Heaven. For those who reject Christ eternity will be spent separated from God in a place of torment created for Satan and those who follow him. The choice is mine.
As glorious as life on the other side of the grave will be, I want to spend some time talking about the impact of “eternal life” on the “natural life” of the believer on this side of the grave.
Tomorrow we will pick this up with Part 2 of…
…Eric’s Life Lesson # 28: “Life or Death: the choice is mine.”