THE LINE SEGMENT OF LIFE!

Recently, we had one birth, one death, and one milestone birthday in our family. And although the death was a much-loved pet, this really made me think about what so many of us call the “circle of life”.

There was great joy, lots of tears, sorry and loss, celebrating and blowing candles out on a cake, all around me lately.

For me, this brought lots of introspection!

It amazes me to think that every day all around this world there is living and dying and joy and suffering and everything in between.

All around us. We are all affected by “life” and its fragility and its brevity and its wonder and how it just marches on and on!

I was struck by how one day or even one minute can be so life-changing! And so uncertain.

If we are not careful we can forget that more of our life will be lived on the other side of the grave than right here and now.

For we were made for eternity.

There is really no circle of life, for life is not a circle at all!

It does not go “round and round”.

I think life is more like a geometric ray. It has a starting point and then goes to infinity and beyond (to quote Buzz Lightyear).

On the “ray” of our lives, there are hundreds, maybe even millions of “points” (like in geometry) that mark time in our daily lives. Points both mundane and significant.

My grandson McAlister was born recently. And this new life brought such joy to our family!! His life marked the starting point on the ray of his life!

At one point marked the starting point of our life too!

And like poor Hobbes, our much-loved cat there will be a point that will mark our deaths.  

And all the living we do here on earth are points in between life and death, which if my high school geometry still serves me, is called a line segment.  

Some people’s line segments are longer than others. Some are marked with more of this or that. But our time here on this planet is finite. As finite as a line segment!

Here is what David, inspired by God, says about our very beginnings…

YOU (God) created my innermost being, YOU (God) knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13

Our great God, Creator of the universe had a very personal and intimate hand in creating each of us! We are not an accident and neither is our lives in history.

And David’s response to the miraculous work of each of us is…

I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your (God) works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13

And here is what God told Israel when they were about to suffer points of great pain and tragedy on their line-segment-life…

“For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future”.  Jere 29:11

Our wonderful Creator not only intentionally and intimately made each of us, but He also made a good plan to go along with our lives!

This is something that we must always remember no matter what life brings our way! God is not surprised or buffeted by life! He is the Creator and Owner of it! He is the One that gives it freely to us! And He and He alone is sovereign over it!

We live in a very broken world right now. It’s often hard to see things through God’s lens of eternity. But do not be deceived. God is in control. He has been and will forever be in control!

In this world, there is suffering alongside of joy.

There are trials along with triumphs.

There is corruption along with goodness.

There is death along with life.

It is only in Christ that we have the strength to go through life and enter into eternity as great victors!

The bulk of our lives will not be spent here.

We were built for eternity.

If this is true, and it is, why should we wait until we die to live out our eternal potential? When we turn away from sin and back to God, believe in Jesus as our Lord (Owner, Creator), and give over our lives to Him something wonderful happens.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The old life is gone, the new life begun. 2 Corinthians 5:17

When we put our trust for all eternity in the nail-pierced hands of Jesus we LITERALLY become a new creation!

For we are God’s masterpiece, created anew in Jesus Christ so we can do the good things He planned for us all along. Ephesians 2:10

We will grow into and become a person who has the power to live victoriously through anything life can throw at us.

Because when we belong to Jesus he gives us a power that is so great it is called dunamis in the bible.

That is where we get our word dynamite from. This dynamite power is The Holy Spirit. He is our help in this life! He is our strength and comfort! We never have to go through life alone or in our own power. We have God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit not only on our side but walking through all the points on our life’s journey!

Life may not be pretty or easy. Life is messy and hard. And we may get to the end of our line segment live totally used up!

But if we trust Jesus for our eternity God promises us victory! 

And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life,  and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son Of God, so you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13

If your life is a circle, get off the hamster wheel. Know and believe that you were lovingly made for so much more! YOU were made for eternity.