Thought for 12 February 2025

 John 11:23-26

Jesus told her, ‘Your brother will live again’.  ‘Yes’, Martha said, ‘when everyone else rises on resurrection day’. 

Jesus told her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.  They are given eternal life for believing in me and will never perish.  Do you believe this Martha’? 

I was wondering about this ‘eternal life’ promised to us if we take the Lord Jesus as our Saviour and believe in him.  It can trip off the tongue quite easily, but what exactly is it we believe in?  Maybe we can’t be too exact but we can speculate on things that are the most likely to change. 

On thinking about the various parts of scripture that gives us clues as to what it will be like, it made me think of what it won’t be like in comparison to this world we are currently living in. 

I see folks coming out the chemist on North Road with fairly big packages containing their prescribed medication.  I see folks with walking sticks that help them get around.  I see loads of folk wearing spectacles.  All these observations highlight the imperfections of our earthly bodies.  At the end of this life, these bodies are buried or destroyed by fire so it is natural to believe that in this next eternal life, each of us will have a new eternal body and this is backed up by several passages of scripture.  We don’t know what these new bodies will look like but whether we live to the age of nine or ninety, I don’t think these bodies will look like we looked at the end of our life in this world.  Our earthly bodies have a limited shelf life while our eternal bodies won’t.  If this speculation is true, will we be able to recognise folks we knew and loved in this life when we reach the next? 

I’m sure we could all make a list of things we won’t miss in this world.  My current list would include temporary traffic lights, poor wi-fi connections, furniture shopping, DIY, and having to pay for tv channels that have programmes I want to see.  I could continue adding things to this list for some time and I’m sure you could do the same. 

What we can say about the next life is that we will be in the presence of Jesus himself, there will be no more pain or sorrow.  We have all experienced pain whether physical or emotional but none of that will exist in the next life which in itself is pretty wonderful, no skelfs, no skint knees, no cramp, no toothache, no ill health and no mourning.  It is indeed, something to look forward to for every believer. 

Prayer 

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your promise that you are the resurrection and the life. We  believe in you, and trust in your power to bring new life even in the midst of death.  We claim your promise that even when we die, we will still live because of our faith in you.  Help us to hold onto this truth and to live each day with the hope and assurance that comes from knowing you. Thank you for your love and grace that never fails.  Amen.