Categories: anything-and-everything
Date: 26 April 2007 19:10:53
Due to something I read this evening* and that habit of our minds wandering obscurely from one subject to another I have just been thinking about what we leave behind us when we pop our clogs/shuffle off this mortal coil.** These ponderings weren't of the misery kind but of the genuine reflection kind. We of course have a relatively short amount of time to live this life, make our mark, live life to the full, leave something behind etc etc but then the Christian hope offers, through Christ, the gift of eternal life in God's presence - heaven and all. But it occurs to me*** that we see far too little consequence in the continuation of life in the sense that when we take up God's gift we have so much more opportunity to live fulfilling and generous lives, in relationship with God and in relationship with others. We often focus so much on 'being alright when we die' that we forget about the significance of living, real living, after death, and in the fact that this life starts here and goes on through death. We are so engrossed in our three score and ten that what comes after - the significance of the hope - is not really comprehended. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth... but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven" (Matthew's gospel, chapter 6). Why? There must surely be a significant point to that.
Have I really understood this eternal life - not floating on a cloud, not boredom for eternity, not weeping, pain and tears - but life, full life, life as it was planned to be, unseparated from God, loving and even, presumably working? In light of that - yes I want to do all that I can with the years I'll have, make a difference, leave my mark, be a blessing, enjoy family and friends... but because of Christ it won't stop there - and that is the good news of the gospel. There may be pain still in that wall of separation we experience, but it has been sledgehammered through and we can carry on. When we miss the hope in all this, perhaps we just need to listen again to Jesus' words to the man on the cross next to him: "Today you will be with me in paradise" - with the God of the living and not the dead.
*A next-day edit: And it was not the rather grim Gordon Cheng death thread in heaven on the Ship which I have only just seen this morning! Next-day edit no.2:Seeing as that thread appeared after I'd posted (I have just noticed) then I suppose this has been a waste of edits!
**where on earth do these expressions come from! (Well one's from Mr. Shakespeare at least!)
***It may have occurred to you a long time ago!