The Here and Now of Eternal Life
“The Book of Jerry Falwell,” released in 2000 by cultural anthropologist, Susan Friend Harding, is, in my opinion, a fairly objective analysis of the rise of Evangelical Christianity in the political arena, beginning in the Reagan era of the 1980s.
I read Harding’s book over a decade ago, and honestly, I don’t remember much about it. I do, however, recall clearly her reference to the “language” of Christians, which she describes as “born again language.”
Harding is right. There is a language that is distinctly unique to believers. As a pastor, I work at explaining the language of the Bible to both believers and unbelievers. And over the years, I’ve discovered that much of the language we use in the church is often much more narrowly defined than it is in the Bible. A classic example of this is the word “lost.”
To say someone is “lost” is another way of saying that person is bound for hell and eternal separation from God. The word has become a kind of code word for a person’s eternal destiny. Sadly, this usage of the word “lost” reveals one of the greatest misunderstandings in the lives of many Christians today and one that is hindering the growth and maturity of many would-be disciples of Jesus.
As I explained in yesterday’s post, to be a disciple of Jesus is to be a learner. As we trust his teachings and follow his ways, we enter into the Kingdom of God in this life. And as I pointed out, to enter the Kingdom is to allow God’s reign and rule to permeate every facet of our lives. Our relationship with God grows, and we begin to “take hold of the life that really is life.” (I Timothy 6:19)
Salvation, another word we have primarily limited to “going to heaven when we die,” refers to so much more than that and is directly connected with what the Scriptures say about being “lost.” In Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, he urged his hearers to “save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” (Acts 2:40.) Paul tells the Galatian Christians that Jesus has “rescued us from this present evil age.” (Galatians 1:4)
To be lost is to be like the sheep who wanders from the flock, exposed to the dangers of living without a shepherd. Or like a coin that rolls under the sofa and is no longer available to be used for what it was made. Ultimately, to be lost is to be like the son who, instead of waiting on his inheritance, using it to build a fruitful and secure life, demands that his father “give it to me now” and wastes it all on wild parties and wild women, ending up taking care of pigs, sneaking a handful of slop when he can.
To be lost is to wander through this life, trapped in what the Bible calls deceitful desires, hopes, and dreams that promise to satisfy but in reality, leave us disappointed and always thirsting for more or something different.
But we were made for God, and until we find our hope and home in Him, we will wander, aimlessly or not (it doesn’t matter; misplaced purpose is as just as futile), from one thing to another. Ever seeking, never finding.
Perhaps it comes down to how we understand another phrase we often use as Christians - eternal life. Like the words “lost” and “salvation,” we tend to understand eternal life as “out there somewhere,” waiting on us when we die. That, however, is not how Jesus understood eternal life.
“Now this is eternal life,” said Jesus, “that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)
As we grow in our intimate knowledge of God, we experience His life, what some have referred to as the “life of the ages.” And as we do, we escape the corruption and lostness of a world reeling in confusion and pain and experience the fulness of life, here and now, with God.
In Christ,
Dan
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