The Verdict Is In: The Peace of God — Tuesday
1 Corinthians 15:55
Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (NIV)
There are some strange and unique phobias:
Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth)
Nomophobia (Fear of being without your mobile phone)
Chaetophobia (Fear of hair)
Xanthophobia (Fear of the color yellow)
Apeirophobia (Fear of infinity or eternity)
Thankfully, I don’t suffer from any of those phobias. (I’m pretty sure my kids have nomophobia.) But I can tell you that the idea of eternity makes me squirm a little. My brain can’t quite comprehend something that never ends. We have things on Earth that seem to go on forever but don’t actually. The ocean seems infinite, but there is an end to it. The sky seems to go on forever, but there is a finite atmosphere. There are not an infinite number of ants, blades of grass, or grains of sand. And although it feels like it, election cycles are not infinite (thankfully, they also have an end). Because of that, it’s hard for me to even get a picture in my mind of what eternity would be like. I can’t get over the fact that there’s no end to it – that thought alone makes me uneasy at times!
Regardless of whether you understand it or not, eternity is a real thing. And eternity waits for us at the end of this finite lifetime. And regardless of whether the idea of eternity scares you or not, what we don’t have to fear is death or our eternal location. God has made it very clear that He is Lord over life AND death. As unpleasant as death is, He is offering us eternal life just on the other side of it. As we mentioned yesterday, He sent His only Son to die just for that purpose. That means we don’t have to spend our lives hoping our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds. (Spoiler…a single sin outweighs a lifetime of good deeds.) We can know our destination. We can have confidence that there is life beyond this life. We can genuinely say, “Death, where is your sting?”
Tuesday’s Reflection
Do you have confidence in your eternity? If not, don’t delay that decision for one more moment. Take a minute and text our prayer line. We’d love to hear from you and help you make the greatest decision in your life!