A New Way to be Human

A year and a half ago, our dear sister Margo passed away after a long fight with cancer. Kathy and I were privileged to be at her bedside, holding her hand as she passed. The experience still leaves me filled with awe and wonder because I saw her transition from death to life with mine own eyes.

Yes, death to life.

She traded in her dying body for a new life with God. She was taken up into the arms of Jesus.

This is the hope we have. It is a hope that lives because we believe that Jesus is alive. Two weeks ago, many of us celebrated Easter, the triumph of Christ over death; a triumph that made it possible for us to walk with God.

The apostles were not only witnesses, they were historians; seeing to it that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was recorded for the sake of posterity. Most were martyred as a result. They believed that there was more to this world than their eyes could see, their hands could touch, and their mouths could taste. The apostles of course were skeptical at first when the heard about Jesus being raised from the dead:

Luke 24:36-43 "While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence."

The apostles saw a spiritual dimension that coexisted alongside the physical one we live and move in. Growing up, I had a serious misunderstanding concerning the nature of God. I saw Him in church, I saw Him around priests, I saw Him on special days. I saw myself here, and saw Him as “the God over there.” One day I also discovered that this wasn’t true; His love and care surrounded me, despite my circumstances.

A love that shines a beacon of life, of the true life to come.

Revelations 21:1-7 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son."

It is through this relationship with God, made possible through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, that we finally become whom we were born to be.

A new way to be human. Not a way of brokenness and pain, but one of joy, peace, and right-living. It is a way He offers to each of us.

Do we dare take it?