Well I am approaching 60. I can't believe its here already. King David told us that’s about our life allotment..unless by strength we get 70 years. Well modern medicine has extended that a decade or so, but for most people in that age group quality of life is at best spotty. My Dad has survived into his mid eighties but it has been year after year of chemo and recoveries and new diagnoses and worry.
I am not trying to be depressing here. Ageism is so prevalent in our country and world. Everybody talks about the new 60 and all the magazines are full of diet and exercise and cosmetic tricks to turn back the clock. There is no doubt its better to eat right and get exercise...but the decline and end is inevitable.
So what are we left with in old age? The world pretty much starts to hide us and weed us out of its operations. It's hard to find us in the movies and hard to find us rising the corporate ladder. We are more to be made fun of than listened to for wisdom.
In my opinion we are right in the sweet spot. Jesus message isn't really that interesting for the beautiful and the young. The young are full of their own dreams and promise and that's as it should be. They don't really understand finitude or setbacks yet; and again that’s good.
But Jesus is a realist and His message is about reality. Reality is we all die. Our bones get brittle, our brains fade and our organs get weak. John, His best buddy said "do not love the world and the things in it" . I used to misinterpret this. I thought I am not supposed to love sunsets and oceans and girls and motorcycles and nice houses??
Well of course it’s ok to love the world and the things in it. The worlds a beautiful exciting place and God made it. What John is saying is this; don't fall in love with this finite world. Your little light is going to be on for a while and then it’s going to go out no matter how much you jog and starve yourself. And guess what? No one will give you a thought or mention you two generations after you die. You will be lucky if the next generation remembers and mentions you at all!
So what’s left with such a chilling scenario? Well what occurs to me is that the love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. Jesus had a friend named Mary. Her brother died. She lamely said "I know He will rise from the dead....someday". Jesus rebuked her and said, right now Mary, I AM the resurrection and the life! To me and probably to Mary this sounded like nonsense. She probably thought to herself “ so what if you’re the resurrection, my brother is still dead”. So what did Jesus mean and how is it helpful? It means we live in this world with two lives. One is plodding along, hanging with our families (or not) trying to earn a living etc. Our other life, our real life, is in this resurrected one Jesus. It means that though our outer person is fading away (literally) our inner person is being renewed daily in the Resurrected One. It means though you may be falling apart in many ways; financially, physically and mentally, you are fully alive and well and most importantly SAFE in Christ.
This message is meaningless and ho hum for most of the living. Who do I mean when I say the living? The living (in my meaning) are those who don't really stop and realize the fact that they will be gone ever so quickly. They think the life they have is the real and only life there is and they think it is lasting. But facts are facts and they really aren't so bad. We will die and are in the process of doing that as we speak. Jesus Christ is eternal life right now; not someday after your gone. He is eternal life right now..its yours, drink of it.
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