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Life is Death (or Death is Life)
by
Nicole Brindle
I’m no scholar, or
philosopher that’s for sure but I do think I have found the
answer to the age old question “What is the meaning of life?”
Before you continue reading, make sure you are ready to grasp
this, because it really is a mind blowing reality. The
meaning of life is, drum role please, to live! Are you
completely flabbergasted? Are you tearing up the pages of
your Philosophy 101 text wondering why you wasted four years
of university when all you had to do was read the opening
sentence to this article?
The dictionary defines life
as “The interval of time between birth and death” Yes it is
that simple. We are conceived and then we die, everything
else in between is life. The interval of time between our
conception and our death is when we are living and thus the
meaning of life is to live.
Jesus says “I came that
they may have [life] and enjoy life and have it in abundance
(to the full, till it overflows)”. John 10:10b Amp.
Jesus also says that He is
the life. Not just life, but THE life (John 14:6). The only
way we can know life is by knowing Jesus. Actually, with that
said, before I go on I need to ask a question. Do you know
Jesus? Have you repented of sin and do you believe Jesus is
Lord? If you have, keep reading. If not, keep reading
too…but repent and believe, because Jesus is coming soon.
We’ve established it, Jesus
came to give us life, yet the first part of this verse tells
us that there is an assignment of death upon us. The thief
came to steal and kill and destroy. John 10:10a
Jesus is talking about His
sheep (us) in this verse. The thief didn’t come to steal and
kill and destroy from just me, or just Jesus, or just the drug
addict, he came to steal and kill and destroy from the sheep.
You are not immune.
I don’t want to talk too
much about death here, because this is an article on life. I
do however want you to know the seriousness of death, that
there is a real and serious plot for your life. That if we do
not hold on tightly to our Salvation we will die.
Death is the end of life –
that is as simple and literal as it gets. But life is the end
of death! Hallelujah. That is good news. Remember and know
that life always conquers death. It is the very character and
nature of Christ.
The book of Romans zero’s in
on this life is death policy. I have the first four verses of
Romans 6 below, but I strongly encourage you to read the whole
book of Romans as part of this article, there’s some really
great stuff in there.
Well then, should we
keep on, sinning so that God can show us more and more of
his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to
sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten
that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we
joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with
Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may have
new lives.
So life is death. We
actually cannot fully live until we have fully died. We need
to die to ourselves so that we can live in Him. It is by
dying to sin we are saying no to death. When we say no to
death we are saying yes to life. This is pretty bizarre, I am
writing an article on life, yet I am telling you to die. Go
figure. But that’s the beauty of mystery of it all, that life
is death and death is life.
Right, how do we die to
ourselves? If you frequent ArmyBarmy or JAC, or simply follow
various Salvo teaching, you have likely heard the Allister-Smith
two canary illustration. To refresh your memory, the
illustration is as follows: we are like a bird cage with two
canaries in it, a good canary and a bad canary. The process
of dying to ourselves is merely an exercise in starving the
one and feeding the other, or perhaps you have heard it said,
wring its neck and throw it out of the cage!” That means this
full life, this Zoë life Jesus tells us about is not
attainable until we surrender our sinful nature, until we
wring the bad canary’s neck and throw him out of the cage.
It’s actually a lot simpler
then we want it to be. It isn’t hard at all. As humans we
like to complicate things. I don’t know why – it is so
simple. Just stop dying. Stop dying and live.
The concept of dying to self
has taken me years to unravel, and probably years more to
understand. But what it comes down to is surrender. Whether
it be the sin that easily entangles or the hurt that has made
our heart hard. Whatever it is it needs to be given to the
Lord. It isn’t ours anymore anyways – it has already been
accounted for. Jesus already took up our sin, our shame, our
hurt and our pain on the cross. We don’t need to carry this
junk around with us, so why do we? Why is it so hard to let
go of it? It’s not even like its good or worth hanging on
to. I mean if it was a dollar bill or an ice cream cone you
may have an argument, but it’s not, it is cancer and it is
ugly…you don’t want it, so why have it?
After you finish this
article, I want you spend some time with the LORD. Look at
His face, into His eyes. Look at Him upon the cross. What is
stealing life from you? For me it was addiction and
depression. I received a lot of freedom they day I looked at
Jesus on the cross. I saw Him with my scars and with my sin.
I saw Jesus on the cross with a cigarette in his mouth, with
his arms bleeding from the knife I used on my own. I saw Him
crying and I saw Him dying and it sickened me. I saw Jesus in
pain and in death and realised it was me who brought Him to
that point. But in His love he took all that to the cross and
to the grave with Him, simply so we could have a full life.
If you cannot grasp that, please don’t continue to read until
you do. And the only way you will be able to grasp that is to
spend time, intimate time with the Lord.
“…our old self was crucified
with Him…Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we
will also live with him…So you also must consider yourselves
dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus”
Romans 6:6a, 8, 11.
What kind of article on life
would this be if I didn’t talk about Jesus rising from the
dead! This is the single most victorious life moment ever
recorded in history. You see, life always conquers death.
From the beginning of Jesus’ physical life here on earth,
death tried to get Him. King Herod sent out a memo to kill
baby boys throughout the land intending to get Jesus and when
that didn’t work, satan tempted Jesus in the desert enticing
Him to throw himself of the cliff and when Jesus stood strong
to that He was crucified on the cross. But then three days
later Jesus rose from the dead! He defeated death!
Hallelujah! He is risen!
One Resurrection Day our
Corps marched around our neighbourhood. Picture a bunch of
people, most in uniform, some in pyjamas and others in
unwashed street clothes walking along a poverty stricken and
oppressed neighbourhood shouting and singing praises to the
Lord celebrating his triumphant victory over death. As we
began we were stopped by a cop right off the bat and he asked
us what we were doing.
“Marching.” “What is your
cause? “The declaration that Jesus is alive and is Lord”
Then just as the police officer was about to tell us to stop,
seven year old Joshua White, ran up to the police car and
yelled into the window “JESUS IS REALLY REALLY RISEN FROM THE
DEAD!!!” The cop let us proceed.
Do you believe, like REALLY
believe, as Joshua does, with that same excitement, that Jesus
is REALLY risen from the dead. If you do not believe that,
then really you will not ever live.
Jesus’ Resurrection from the
dead is as essential to the Christian faith as His death upon
the cross. There is absolutely no legitimate scholar today
that can deny Jesus is a historical figure who walked this
earth over 2000 years ago, that He did miracles, that He was a
good man and that He died a horrifying death on the cross.
That is true. The debate does not lie in His existence or His
death, it lies in His Resurrection. Is it a matter that it is
impossible? Well our God is one who does the impossible, so
that argument can be crossed off. It is not false, and we
must really believe in the Resurrection of Jesus if we are
going to live.
Am I making it clear
enough? We must really believe that Jesus is REALLY risen
from the grave. If you don’t REALLY believe that, then this
whole Christianity thing is bogus.
I hope I’ve explained just
how important it is to choose life, not only for the sake of
our own Salvation, but for the sake of those around us. If we
do not choose life, how can we share that with others? You
cannot give something away you do not have. Not choosing
life, so remaining stuck in sin, is by far the most selfish
thing you can do.
It’s one thing to know that
we need to die to our sinful nature so that we can live in
Christ, but now the question is how to do it. It’s just as
simple…intimacy.
The Lord longs to be with
us. He just really wants to be with us, to know us, as He
does, and for us to know Him. He wants to be with us so much,
he will wait until we come. Intimacy is the turning point for
change.
Let me say that again -
INTIMACY IS THE TURNING POINT FOR CHANGE.
I don't want to change so
I can be with him. I want to change because I am with
him.
Spouses do things like this
all the time.. In the movie "Shall We Dance" this big
foot-ball guy is asked why he is taking ballroom dance
lessons, as an elegant dancer didn't really fit his
demeanour. He responded by saying he was doing this for his
fiancé. He loves his wife-to-be and his love for her is the
spark for change. Movies aren’t the only place I have heard
this. I work in a Salvation Army Transitional Home where most
our residents are in recovery. Nine times out of ten, the
reason for sobering up is for people they love, often family.
If we love someone deep enough it is easy to make the changes
we need to. This is no different with Christ.
All we have to do is love
Him, and that love will make us change. How can we love the
Lord more? The same way we love people more - by spending
quality time with them. It’s the same with Yahweh. The more
time I spend with the Lord the more I will love him. The more
I love him, the more I will want change.
This could look like
lengthening the time of our morning rations (devotions),
lengthening our prayer times and to pray without ceasing. It
should look like when the Psalmist says “I cannot stop
thinking about your mighty works” (Psalm 77:12). Intimacy
looks like always having your lover on your mind. This is
what intimacy with the Lord should look like. May the Lord be
our first thought when we arise. May He be on our minds when
we walk through the empty forest and through the crowded
streets. May He be on our minds when we am lying awake at
night and may we think of Him also as we sleep, in our
dreams.
The more we transform the
way we think the closer we get to the Lord. And the closer we
get to the Lord the more intimate we get. And intimacy is the
turning point for change.
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