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Meaning of Life
【Eternal Life】A child does not
begin to exist when he or she is born. The child has already existed for nine
months prior to this in the mother’s womb. At the point of birth, only the
conditions in which the child exists change. Before, he lived internally; now,
he lives externally. Before, he was fed internally; now, he feeds externally.
He does not begin to live at birth: he has lived all the time since conception,
but conditions change at birth.
So
also can the believer view death. At the point of death, the conditions of our
eternal life change—but not the fact that we do indeed have eternal life.
【Eternal Life】When the great
Christian scientist Sir Michael Faraday was dying, some journalists questioned
him about his speculations for a life after death. He purportedly replied:
“Speculations! I know nothing about speculations. I’m resting on certainties. I
know that my Redeemer liveth, and because He lives, I shall live also” (Job
19:25).
【Eternal Life】B.J. Honeycutt, a
character on the T.V. series “M.A.S.H.,” gave this reason for why he didn’t
give in to temptation in the midst of the Korean War: “I live in an insane
world where nothing makes sense. Everyone around me lives for the now, because
there may not be a tomorrow. But I have to live for tomorrow, because for me
there is no now.”
For
B.J., his hope for the future was seeing his family again. That hope was
sufficient to define how he would behave in an extremely difficult situation.
How much more so should our future hope of the