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| Jesus Raises Jairus' Daughter from the Dead |
As we are made in the image of the Triune God (Genesis
1:26-27), it is not surprising that our physical and spiritual being,
our relationships, and our life path reflect His three-part
nature. Our lives unfold and transform according to His perfect plan, with
triplets of change marking our transitions along that path (Jeremiah 29:11).
Solomon speaks of God making everything beautiful in His
time. He speaks of the times and seasons of life, beginning with a time to
be born and a time to die (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2,11). Yet
sandwiched between these two events is the span of our time here on earth.
In 1966, Linda Elllis wrote a poem called “The Dash,” referring to that tiny
line on the gravestone between the birth year and the year of death – that tiny
line that represents all we do with our allotted time in this life (Psalm
90:10). In the scheme of eternity, that time is like a vapor,
disappearing like the puff of air we exhale on a frosty day (James 4:14).
So life on earth is the transition from birth to death, and
even before that is gestation, during which the baby lives in its
mother’s womb during the transition from conception to birth. When we
are born, we as children depend on others to provide for our physical
needs; then we are self-sufficient as mature adults; but then as elderly
we begin to deteriorate physically, once again requiring support from
others. God therefore commands us to honor our parents, not only when we are
children and their care prolongs our life (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy
5:16), but also as adults when the tables are turned and we provide for
them (Mark 7:10-12).
Since Adam and Eve fell and sin and death entered this
world (Genesis 2:17; 3), our bodies have been doomed to age. The
process of physical maturation and decay is marked by transitions in posture
and stance – horizontal in infancy as the baby spends most of its time
sleeping and then crawling; upright in childhood, adolescence and
adulthood; then stooped and ultimately bedridden due to the ravages of
old age.
Yet physical aging need not mean the end of our usefulness
to others and service to God, as was the case with Caleb (Joshua
14:9-14), Moses (Deuteronomy 34:7), Naomi (Ruth
4:14-17) and others. Our church is blessed by our elderly pastor and
his wife, in leadership at our church for over half a century, as well as
by faithful teachers and missionaries who have continued to serve
God throughout their long lives.
Before puberty we
cannot have children; then we become sexually mature and capable of parenting; but as we age, we become infertile and lose our reproductive
potential. Of course, nothing is impossiblenothing is impossible with God, and He blessed Sarah (Genesis
17:15-19) and Elizabeth (Luke 1:13-18) with children at a
very old age even though they had been barren).
Even more important than the physical transitions every
person must undergo are the spiritual transitions God freely offers to
whosoever desires them (Revelation 22:17). When we seek God,
and search for Him with all our heart, we shall find Him. Then we
can call upon Him, and pray to Him, and He will listen to our prayers (Jeremiah 29:12-13). Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, later
paraphrased this by saying, “Call unto me, and I will answer
thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not (Jeremiah
33:3).
Jesus Himself promised us the greatest possible life
changes if we are willing to undergo three transitions or steps of obedience: “Ask,
and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it
shall be opened unto you.” (Matthew 7:7).
Sadly, many reject Christ’s offer of eternal life. These unsaved people must transition from life to three kinds of death: not only physical death (Hebrews 9:27) that all of us face unless we are still alive at the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:50-54) but also spiritual death, or separation from God during their earthly life (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13), and eternal death with everlasting punishment in Hell (Mark 3:29; John 5:29).
By calling on the Name of Jesus, we can go from death in sin to being born again (John 3:3-8), followed by spiritual growth as we are progressively conformed to His image (Philippians 3:10-14). When we are born again, we are transformed from a natural man (unsaved), ideally to a spiritual Christian yielded to the Spirit, but sometimes we act as a carnal Christian when the old sin nature wins the daily battle against the Holy Spirit (Romans 7:13-23; 8:6; 1 Corinthians 2:14-16).
At the moment of salvation, we are justified (just
as if we’d never sinned), meaning that God no longer sees our sins, but only
the perfect righteousness of Christ that now clothes us by His grace through our
faith (Romans 3:24-28). Throughout our Christian walk, we are
gradually sanctified, or made more like Christ, until He takes us home (1
Corinthians 1:30; 6:11). Then, at the Rapture, we are instantly glorified,
becoming as He is (Romans 8:17-30).
One of the most important transitions of our life involves
how we deal with sin, for all of us are sinners in need of a Savior (Romans
3:23). First we must ask His forgiveness of our sins (1 John
1:8-10), then we must repent or turn away from willful sin (1 John
2:1-6), and then we must forgive others who have sinned against
us (Matthew 6:14-15; Luke 17:4). All of our sins nailed
Jesus to the tree, yet He forgave us (Colossians 2:13), so how
much more should we be willing to forgive others? (Matthew 18:21-35)
To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48).
Praise God that He allows whosoever will to transition from
death to abundant life (John 10:10) here and now
and to eternal life in His presence! May we place our faith in His death,
burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as
the only Way to Heaven and spend our short time here on earth by praising,
worshipping and following Him!
Edited, expanded and reposted from the archives
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