When Life Begins
But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the Kingdom of God. “ Luke 9:60
The Dead – When we you born? Wait! Don’t give me your “birth” date. That’s only the day that you entered into the kingdom of the dead. In order to answer the question from the biblical point of view, you must understand one of “life’s” greatest deceptions. You were born DOA. Life is found only in the Son. If you haven’t been conceived from above, you aren’t really alive. The problem is that your physical body just hasn’t caught up with its real condition. When it does, your true state will be revealed. Then those who are dead will bury their own dead.
The idea that eternal life begins when we reach heaven is a terrible mistake. That influences us to think that somehow we can go on living here, making the best of it, waiting for the day when we will enter into eternity. But this is not Jesus’ point of view. Jesus sees the world as God sees the world. Until you have an intimate, personal, continual relationship with Him, you’re dead. Life begins when Jesus arrives to claim you as His own. Before that, you’re just waiting for the truth to become evident. In the upside-down reality of the Kingdom, living is dying.
You can stop worrying about cancer, heart attacks, accidents and all the other “life” threatening possibilities. There is only one really important fact about life. You’re dead! Those fear inducing eventualities only confirm what was true all the time.
But it’s not bad news. Once I recognize my true state, DOA at birth, then I am called to do something about it. And just as the true state of my “living” is backwards, so is the answer to my problem. The only way I can live is to die now. I must take the dead “life” that I have and place it on God’s altar, consigning it to destruction. In other words, I must act according to the real state of my existence, stop pretending that I am somehow alive apart from Jesus, and give it up. Let the dead bury the dead. Then I can live.
If life is found in the Son, then I won’t live until I am found in the Son. I live when I participate in His life, not before. So, my choice is obvious. By the way, it should not be a difficult choice, should it? How much value does a dead person have? How much can a dead person own or hold on to or strive to achieve?
Now, when were you born? What day did you leave the kingdom of tous nekrous (the dead) and step out of the grave into life?
