Eternal Beings

For some, death is considered the absolute end, for others death is the turning of the page to the next chapter of existence.

Comments like "what you do now, here on earth, echoes in eternity" does not reverberate with those who consider death as the End Game. People who do not accept the notion of an eternal afterlife only have memories of the individuals they cared about until death comes calling for them.

For the ones that do not see a hereafter, unless your deeds were well-known and/or documented either as helpful to mankind or harmful - you will not be remembered. The world has the full spectrum of care on being remembered, but one certainty is clear - actions and words go a long way in showing someone's true character and belief in their immortality or lack thereof.

I think purpose alludes many in this world because somewhere along the journey the person believed a lie about self-worth, not measuring up and not being loved. But where shame and defeatism attempt to keep the person down - purpose, hope and love provide direction, destination and relationship.

So, consider this sobering thought - humans are eternal beings. For the one who does not accept that eternity exists, you will now have to exercise a leap of faith. 

This notion of being eternal is not new. The great beyond runs throughout history in many, if not all, of the world's cultures and societies.  

However, within Christianity, the idea not only means you have to deal with death (the payment of a disobedient nature, Romans 6:23) in a miraculous way but you have to account for a moral standard of living provided by a Judge who promises rewards for one's deeds and two eternal destinations based on your decision for or against Christ's life for yours. 

Besides Christ Jesus of Christianity, there is no other faith or belief system that has their main prophet or savior dying for all the mistakes of humanity and conquering death, Hell and the grave. 

"but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." (2 Timothy 1:10)

Therefore, Christ's victory over death has guaranteed victory for the believer and secured the hope that all fellow family and friend believers will be seen again. This same Savior is returning to snatch away His true believers to take them to a Heavenly home He has been preparing.

"For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him." (Romans 6:9)

"For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his." (Romans 6:5)

"Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

According to Scripture, Death is a payment that has been made by Christ for our eternal life with Him (Romans 6:16; 6:23), an enemy that has been defeated for our eternal enjoyment of His presence (1 Corinthians 15:26) and a doorway not a destruction through faith in Him.

Death used to be a power under the control of the devil, but since Christ's physical death and resurrection, Jesus took that power away.

"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—" (Hebrews 2:14)

Instead of death on a satanic leash, death is fully conquered and at Christ's disposal. According to Revelation 1:18, Jesus holds the keys of "death and Hades", who is personified in Revelation 6:8 and seen as vanquished into a Second Death in Revelation 20:14. Jesus promises if you accept Him as Lord and Savior and live His lifestyle, you will not experience this Second Death -

"Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death." (Revelation 2:11)

"Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years." (Revelation 20:6)

For everyone, believers and non-believers alike, a healthy respect for death is good. In many cases humanity focuses on or worries a lot about the end of our physical life and not our eternal one. About this Jesus said, 

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)

In the meantime, Christians are to live in light of this victory over death. Paul admonishes us that while we are alive, here on earth, a lifestyle unconnected from Christ is dead and unfruitful, while being connected to Christ or in The Vine is living and produces fruit. One way Paul says it is like this - 

"The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace." (Romans 8:6) 

So, who is governing your mind?

From our first breath we become eternal beings. Because of humanity's disobedience to God, otherwise known as sin, our default eternal destination was set with the fallen angels - Hell. 

Should someone not choose faith in Christ, their eternal life continues as a eternal damnation and will go through the doorway of death and end separated from God's favor in Hell, awaiting The Lake of Fire, the Second Death.

Now that Christ has come and supplied the choice of faith in Him as our redeeming, victorious sacrifice - we also can have victory over death, Hell and the grave. Should someone choose faith in Christ Jesus, eternal life is promised.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son." (John 3:18)

Before The Fall of humanity through Adam and Eve, God made mankind, male and female, in His image - to be eternal beings. Now, many thousands of years later, that eternal status remains but an eventual, eternal destination has changed from certainty to choice in Christ Jesus and His plan of salvation for all.

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

What will you do now? How will you respond to Christ's invitation to be His son/daughter? How will you move forward and live knowing we are all Eternal Beings? 

Pray Without Ceasing

I can't tell you how many times, as I grew up well before the Bluetooth Cellphone Age, that I saw someone on a corner somewhere talking to themselves. I could usually tell if they were homeless, poor, frustrated or just trying to talk something out.

Now, discerning if someone is actually speaking to another person with a Bluetooth earpiece in their ear or going through a challenging time without one is difficult. That imagery is one picture meant to portray the Christian's constant communication with The Lord.

Ever heard the term - motor mouth - used to describe someone? This is a person who put nicely is a constant communicator. Put another way - never stops speaking. Said one more way - will not shut-up and you wonder if they will ever take a breath to do anything else.

This kind of person is out of balance. Last time I checked, humans have two ears and one mouth, but this type of person tries to make-up for that fact with a river of words. Two-way listening and speaking is imperative in any healthy relationship and passion to communicate is a good thing, but not at the expense of a relationship being one-sided.

When reading verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:17 that says, "pray continually," and Ephesians 6:18 that states, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." - the notion is easily taken by the reader to talk all the time to God or at least whenever you decide to meet.

But as I have mentioned before, if believers are doing all the talking, there is no time and no room for listening to God's instructions and encouragement. I feel confident that God loves us so much that He has listened to our dissertations, but He would much prefer a balanced conversation. The original Greek word for "continually" is adialeiptos (ad-ee-al-ipe-toce) meaning uninterrupted as the occasion allows.

When one takes into account the original language behind the key words of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, the verse reads -

Always have a cheerful, happy demanor, pray uninterruptedly as the occasion(s) allow and give thanks at the beginning, during and through all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

This instruction by Paul at the end of his letter to the believers in Thessolonica is a development of an eternal focus on Christ so that "our light and momentary troubles will achieve for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Cor. 4:17) 

For the best example at how the Christian's life should be an everlasting conversation with The Lord - observe Christ's prayer life. Do you want to know what Christ's daily schedule was? 

"Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives," (Luke 21:27). 

His nightly visits to the Mount of Olives, a mountainside or lakeside where it was just Him and Father God are excellent examples of the persistence in meeting with God. For out of those meetings between Father God and Christ, Jesus received direction, taught with God's authority and performed miracles.

His teaching astonished the people (Matthew 22:33). His teaching amazed the people so much because He taught with authority (Mark 1:22). His teaching was "hard" at times and difficult to "accept". After Christ spoke about Himself as The Bread of Life, "many of His disciples said, 'This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?'" (John 6:60)

However, from all the astonishment, from all the amazement, from all the difficulty the Disciples encountered with the teachings of Jesus - there was one thing they asked to be taught. Daniel Kolenda says it like this -

"They never asked, 'Teach us how to do miracles, or to be dynamic communicators, or to be highly effective and successful. The one thing about His life that was so compelling and appealing that they wanted to imitate was His prayer life." (Unlocking the Miraculous Through Faith and Prayer)

This is the thrust of the charge to pray without ceasing. God is a person. Obviously, He is a very special person in that He is with the believer at all times. Because of this, look at prayer without ceasing and praying in the Spirit on all occasions as simply opening a forever line of communication with The Lord.

This direct hotline or prayer-line is the kind of communicative relationship God paid for with His Son's life. This is a relationship of such tight-nit communication that distractions, issues and temptations are minimized in their impact on the believer. The practice is a daily honor that will be challenged, but the benefits are divine if the Christian will simply Pray Without Ceasing.

God's Image Bearers

When you and I look into the “Mirror of Life” as Christians, is the reflection we see the total image of Jesus? Allow me to save you the trouble – no. In addition, no believer is ever going to be perfect at his or her Christ-likeness. The believer’s right-standing with God is secured through Christ, but the likeness of Christ for Christians will always need improvement. Therefore, the eternal challenge issued once individuals accept Christ as Savior is to develop as God’s Image Bearers.

I recently watched a program on Netflix called "The Crown" – a series about the life of England's Queen Elizabeth. Something that the Holy Spirit taught me through this series was the importance of the Christian's representation of and reflection on King Jesus in everything he or she does every day.

There were many people that were associated with Queen Elizabeth. She had friends. She had acquaintances. She had employees. She had servants. She had fellow leaders of the country (Parliament). All these people attempted to not only represent England and The Queen respectfully wherever they went, they also tried to reflect the character and values of the Monarchy at all times. Interestingly enough, the individuals that seemed to have the most challenging time with this was the group closest to The Queen - her family.

Applied to The Church of Christ, my perspective is that Christians grasp the Ambassador role of the faith. Yes, we do represent Christ to the world through our speech, actions and thoughts. Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5:20 –

"We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us." 

However, Jesus paid too high a price for us to just have a title and a few privileges. Because of the power in Christ's blood, when we accept His sacrifice and victory into our lives as the governing force - we become friends and family of God. Scripture in John 1:12 says, 

"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" 

and 1 Peter 2:9 continues this thought stating – 

"you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

The last Scripture I’ll share here is John 15:15, Jesus said –

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

The believer’s right-standing with God or righteousness has been clinched by the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Acceptance of Christ's Salvation plan for your life is great, but that is not all.

Being associated with The King of all kings and representing Him in a biblically maturing manner is always a good plan, but the rest of a Christian's walk is living out the joy from where or what God saved you.

Since Adam and Eve ‘till today - the goal has remained for those who believe to seek Godly transformation and look forward to a Heavenly destination. Let there be no doubt, the faith walk of a Christian is guaranteed to be hazardous, but not without God's presence and guidance for the believer’s life.

Therefore, my encouragement and challenge for all my brothers and sisters in Christ today is to realize the mantle of being God’s Image Bearer and reflect God's character and values into the world around you, especially seeing that true believers are part of God’s family through Christ Jesus.

Just as a diamond can show many facets or sides to its beauty, so can God use all the different people in The Church as His facets to express His love and beauty to people. If His own family does something contrary to His Word and plan for their lives, then that mirror, that diamond, the lives of believers – His image is filthy and Christians reflect poorly or mis-represent Him to those around us.

One way to avoid reflecting Him poorly is to have more one-on-one encounters with The King. Even though Christians carry the presence of the Holy Spirit with them everywhere they go, I believe The King desires more secluded time with believers every day to help sear His image upon His sons and daughters through the study of His Word.

The main effort then, for the Christian, is to always be striving toward recovering or returning to - the pre-fall condition of being made in God’s image and His likeness.

In Genesis 1:26 God said, 

"'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over....".

To begin I want you to catch two important observations about this verse. The first is that there is a comma after the word "image" for a reason. The comma is meant to give the reader pausel. - the word "image" and the word "likeness" are not the same word. 

"Image" in the original Hebrew is the word Tselem. This word means resemblance. In this sense resemblance refers to having the same kind of make-up - body, mind and soul - therefore being a person like God is a person.

"Likeness" in the original Hebrew is the word D'muth. This word means similitude. However, this similarity refers to the mannerisms of Adam and Eve matching up with God's.

Second of all the words "so that" implies that the preceding image and likeness are used in some fashion. How are God’s image and likeness used? Ruler-ship or dominion - "that they (Adam and Eve) may rule over..." In this case, it was the creatures of the earth and sea that they were to have dominion.

Today in the Christian journey, the great question is – what do you have dominion over and are you a steward of it through Christ Jesus and His Holy Spirit? As we see from the study of His Word, dominion over anything begins with His image and likeness within us.

So a quick status check for me or any other Christian would be to initialize a reflective Life Through the Spirit Report Card. Ask the Holy Spirit to grade you from questions that are based from Romans 8:14-17. Questions like –

·      Do I screen decisions through the discernment of the Holy Spirit first?

·      Do I still allow fear to steer my choices?

·      Do I keep in view God as my Father?

·      Do I recognize coming suffering, but realize greater reward?

·      Do I realize how I respond to these questions attracts or detracts others from The Family of God?

While the believer’s salvation is complete through Jesus and the Christian’s body will be glorified or perfected one day, the believer’s Christ-like image will always be a work-in-progress. God has called His family to be stewards in this life. Stewards of what? His image. Therefore, as we live in expectation of His return for His family, I encourage all my brothers and sisters in Christ - improve at being God’s Image Bearers.

His Stewards

I would venture to say that many people are scared of responsibility. We especially avoid responsibility of others. We would gladly take credit if our stewardship of another person was successful, but if it fails we look to blame it on anything but ourselves. So, proper management of people, places and things takes a serious hit. Early on in the Genesis account we read about Cain sassing back to God about his brother Abel, declaring – 

"I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9)

However, humanity and especially Christians should be stewards of each other. Stewardship requires an Owner that has delegated authority, oversight, protection and management obligations of something or someone.

God owns everything. When God created the human being, the man was alone in kind of creatures. God walked with Adam and spoke with him. Through Adam, stewardship of Eden and Earth with its animals and his naming them thereof was his honored duty before The Fall. An ordained gardener/zookeeper if you will, but it was not the same as having a similar partner/friend, so God created Eve out from Adam to be Adam's help mate, his fellow steward (Genesis 2:18-25).

However, The Curse of Sin was injected into humanity and creation by the disobedience of Adam and Eve therefore creating the consequence, delivered by God, of the uncooperativeness of the land. Gardening and zoo-keeping chores now become more difficult – the land will be resistant to humanity’s stewarding efforts.

Fast forward to when Jesus was hanging on The Cross and He spells out a relationship of stewardship between two people right there - 

"When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, 'Woman, here is your son,' and to the disciple, 'Here is your mother.' From that time on, this disciple took her into his home." (John 19:25-29)

In Galatians 6:10, Paul admonishes the whole body of believers to the stewardship of others by “doing good to all people” while managing, preserving and protecting the relationships of especially those in The Kingdom of Christ. The full verse reads –

 "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

In Ephesians 5:21-33, Paul describes the mutual love and respect a marriage should hold.

With the stewardship of each other so plainly laid out for Christians in Scripture, there is yet one more person believers should not neglect - The Lord, Himself. 

I am guilty of focusing so much attention on Christian and non-Christian relationships in my life that I miss out on cultivating the most important relationship of all - mine and The Lord's.

God established or founded the relationship through Jesus and His love-gift of His life, death and resurrection. I have done the first part in accepting His Lordship and friendship in my life.

However, the cultivating of a relationship is not just a one way street or affair. I must put forth the effort and desire to mature my relationship with Christ. His direction for my life is sound and I desire to follow and obey, but my relationship with God should always come before anybody and anything. 

Notice I said before anybody and anything. This means Christ is First in my mind, day, speech, decisions and actions. I do not overlook and become thoughtless toward those around me. No. But because I place Christ first, the relationships around me grow stronger, deeper and I become a better steward of them.

Now, since the saving grace of Christ Jesus – through His life, death, resurrection and ascension and sending of His Holy Spirit – Christians are charged to develop that lifestyle of Godly stewardship once more.

How does a Godly steward behave? Faithfully. 1 Corinthians 4:2 says - "Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man [or woman] be found faithful."

Are you considering another job? If you are or are considering service in any capacity, then I encourage you to have a well-established track record of faithfulness. In fact, whatever your passion is - faithfulness to that person, place, thing or idea will display your dedication to whatever or whomever.

Being entrusted to manage your work within the corporation you service by a CEO and his/her staff is a great responsibility. That trust is especially awesome in God's Kingdom Business where believers - study, keep and teach His Word. Therefore this authority of His Stewardship comes with knowing the rules and parameters of God's organization. 

The word "steward" in the original Greek is oikonomos. This word means court officials or palace officials in the Old Testament. The application for these officials is to fulfill their requirement or duty by honoring the law of the land in private and public life. As Christians, stewardship in any position needs to be portrayed as following the commands, instructions and lifestyle example given by Christ.

Notice in the last verse that the word “required” could be rendered as needed or demanded - "it is required in stewards". 

However, in this verse, the original Greek word for "required", zeteo, means a thorough, investigative search. God has to search for this quality, this vital trait in our lives and in His service.

The context of this verse is God conducting a thorough search for administrators in His House. The very weighty last two words of the verse - "found faithful" is how God desires to find a believer when His search has concluded.

The original word for "found" in the Greek is eurisko, meaning to find or discover. Remember 2 Chronicles 16:9? This Scripture also speaks to God searching for those who would be consistently dedicated to Him and rewarding them. The verse reads - "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." 

The original Greek word for "faithful", pistos, means a person who is trustworthy, reliable, dependable and faithful. Once again, I emphasize this fruit of the spirit, this much needed characteristic is sought after by God. Mr. Rick Renner concurs by saying,

"This means that the people who possess the necessary qualities that God wants in order to use them are not abundant in the Christian community. Faithful, trustworthy, reliable, dependable, true and unfailing people are so rare that God must thoroughly and exhaustively search to find them. But once He finds through observation that a particular believer is committed to do His will and to do it with excellence, God has made a valuable discovery. He has found a faithful person He can depend on to lead and carry out a new and important assignment." (p.82, Sparkling Gems From the Greek 2, Renner)

This charge to be faithful in God's Household becomes heavier with a demand for purposeful actions on the Christian’s part. Mr. Renner elaborates by stating - 

"If you were an employer, before you promoted someone into a position of great authority, wouldn't you watch that person first to see if he or she would be found faithful? Since this is true of humans when they look for someone to oversee short-lived, temporal responsibilities, how much more is this true of God, who entrust people with matters that impact people's lives for all eternity? There is nothing more serious than eternal business. That's why before God promotes someone over greater spiritual matters, He watches to see if they are found faithful." (pages 81-82, Sparkling Gems From the Greek 2, Renner)

When God executes His inquiry into your life as a Christian, how do you sense you measure up to the requirements of that position in God's House?

If you find yourself on the positive side when you answer, how are you manifesting your reliability as a Godly Steward? Luke records Jesus strongly encouraging the “manager” or steward in life to be found working when He returns. Luke 12:42-44 states -

“Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.”

These characteristics, vital traits in God's service will go a long way in supporting why Jesus would say to the Godly steward in the end – 

"‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’" (Matthew 25:21) 

When Christians mature in their faith-walk to the point where they obey God’s Word for their lives and effectively steward the gifts, skills, talents and lives of themselves and others in their journey, then God has returned us to where He wanted us all along as His Stewards.