Forget anti-aging. How about immortality?
By Pastor Tim Klassen
As I sit down to write this, advertisements on my browser are suggesting to me the benefits of intermittent fasting. My last visit to YouTube confronted me with ads about how cardio is not the secret to getting in shape (I didn’t listen for long enough to find out what is). We live in a world with hair dye, anti-wrinkle cream and “Reverse Aging Wellness Centres” (whatever those are). It seems one of our greatest desires and highest aims as a culture, is to look and stay young. I must admit, I understand the temptation! I would like to suggest, however, a greater desire and a higher aim we could strive for: immortality. Forget staying young, I would like to propose we stay alive forever! Too much? Too far? Stay with me!
Human beings were never supposed to die. Our bodies were not created to go through what we now know as a natural progression of aging which leads to death. From the very beginning, God created us to live forever! It was only through Adam and Eve’s sin of choosing to disobey God that death came upon all humankind. God had warned them, “in the day that you eat of [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil], you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). The death God was referring to was not immediate, but progressive. All of our bodies, from our very birth, are destined to die. Aging became a normal part of every human beings life. Growing old became the ‘new norm.’
Then enters Jesus. 2,000 years ago He was born to a young teenaged virgin, named Mary. He lived a perfect life and yet He died a criminal’s death on a cross. He did this so He could give us something far greater than preserving our youth or prolonging our life. He did this so He could give us immortality. The Apostle Paul said it like this, “And now He [God] has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Jesus Christ, our Saviour. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News” (2 Timothy 1:10).
That’s right—immortality! This is not a worldly idea or a man-made concept. It was God’s plan from the beginning of time! He never intended for us to experience ageing, sickness, terminal diseases or death. All of that came upon us as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin. The good news is this: Jesus came to restore everything that Adam and Eve had lost! Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by a single offering He [Jesus] has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Jesus’ death on the cross was the only thing necessary to make all humankind perfect again in the eyes of God. We no longer need to die! What we must do, is place our faith in Jesus and believe that He actually did die in our place. If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, then we will be saved (Romans 10:9). Eternal life will be ours!
Embrace your God-given immortality and call on the name of Jesus to save you from sin and death. It’s far better than any anti-aging cream on the shelf!