“I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” John 11: 25-26

These are the words of Jesus to Martha as he approaches the house of Lazarus who has just died.  The apostle John in his gospel goes on to describe how Jesus raised Lazarus after he had been dead for four days.  In this verse, Jesus acknowledges that we will all experience a physical death, but if we believe in him, we will continue to live beyond our physical death with Jeus and the Father. 

What an amazing promise!

There have been several books written describing people’s near-death experiences which seem to confirm this scripture.  They include Life After Life by Raymond Moody, Jr. published in the 1970’s; Heaven Is Real by Todd Burpo in 2011; Proof of Heaven by neurosurgeon Eben Alexander in 2012; and more recently, 7 Lessons From Heaven by Dr. Mary Neal in 2017.  The latter describes Dr. Neal’s drowning in a kayaking accident in a remote river in South America. 

All these books talk about people who have had near death experiences.  They describe coming out of their body, looking down on their body as doctors respond to their apparent deaths, and then traveling to a bright light.  Some describe seeing Jesus and reviewing their lives with him before being told they need to return to this life.   

Life instinctively resists death, but Jesus gives us great hope in his words and what actually happened to him with his resurrection.

How do you live out the hope of the resurrection in your life?

“Why were you searching for me?  Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s House?” (Luke 2:49)

These words were spoken by the boy Jesus to Mary and Joseph when they found him in the temple after searching for him for three days.  He was 12 years old.  They were returning home to Nazareth from their journey to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover when they discovered that Jesus was not in their company.

Like Mary and Joseph, we may be searching for Jesus, and truth and meaning in our lives, but have been looking in the wrong places.  I have a friend who was searching for meaning and purpose when he was in his twenties.  He even traveled around the world to Tibet to meet with the Maharaja but did not find what he was looking for.  Only after he returned home and was invited on a Christians in Commerce/WorkLight Challenge Weekend, did he meet Jesus. 

At this weekend he was invited to open the door of his heart to meet Jesus and have a personal encounter with him and pray for the release of the power of the Holy Spirit.  He did and his life was forever changed. 

After Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven, he is now available to all of us.  As he says in Revelation 3:19-20, “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come and eat with him, and he with me.”  (Rev. 3:20) Jesus is always knocking on the door of our hearts and waiting for us to open the door to his presence and a relationship with him that will forever change our lives. 

Are you searching for meaning and purpose?

“For this I was born, for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)

These were Jesus’ words to Pontius Pilate as he was being questioned to determine whether he should be crucified.  Ironically, Pilate’s response was, “What is truth,” when the embodiment of all truth was standing right in front of him.     

Truth, the knowledge of God, his word and work, has divine power.  It demolishes lies, deception, and all manner of error.  Since truth is from God, it is eternal and never fades or dies, in contrast to lies and deception which may last for a while, but are eventually discovered and proven false.

Truth on the other hand may lie dormant for a time but is always discovered and demolishes the stronghold of lies.  Examples in our world today include such questions as when life begins, and what constitutes marriage.  If we discovered biological cells on Mars, the headlines would declare “Life Found on Mars!”  Yet, a human egg fertilized with a human sperm is not?  Genesis and all of nature declare that marriage is between a “male and female.” (Genesis 1:27) But the wisdom of this world through our highest court says it is not?  Is our culture exchanging the “truth of God for a lie,” as St. Paul observes in Romans 1:25?

History testifies to the power and lasting nature of truth.  The Roman Empire oppressed and persecuted Christians for more than 300 years.  Yet, historian Will Durant, a self-declared non-Christian, eloquently observed:

“There is no greater drama in human record than the sight of a few Christians, scorned or oppressed by a succession of emperors, bearing all trials with fierce tenacity, multiplying quietly, building order while their enemies generated chaos, fighting the sword with the word, brutality with hope, and at last defeating the strongest state that history has known.  Caesar and Christ had met in the arena, and Christ had won.” (Caesar and Christ, p. 652)

Jesus said, “If you remain in my word…you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  (John 8:31-32)

Do we appreciate the power of truth?

After creating us in his image and likeness, God gave us an assignment – to work and take care of his creation.  “The Lord God took man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:15)

Many people look on work as a curse resulting from the fall, but work was ordained before the fall, so work is a part of God’s divine plan.  Our purpose is to take care of creation until God is, as St. Paul says, “all in all.” (1 Cor. 15:28)

All work that contributes to the production of goods and services for others, unless it is immoral, is part of God’s plan for creation.  Lester DeKoster, in his book, Work, the Meaning of Your Life, defines work as “the form in which we make ourselves useful to others and thus to God.”  He characterizes it as a “thread in the larger fabric of civilization.”  The difference between barbarism and culture is, simply, work, which flowers into civilization.”  

We may be surprised that in doing our work we, too, are serving God.  In working as an attorney for most of my career, I did not consider early on that my work was serving God, but it was indeed a “thread in the larger fabric of civilization.”  My summer jobs in high school and college of serving on a road asphalt crew and a laborer in a cement plant were also “threads” making up the larger fabric of civilization.  

God calls us to love him and one another. (Luke 10:27) He calls us to be holy as he is holy. (1Peter 1:15) He also calls us to work and take care of our thread in the fabric of civilization. 

Do you realize that you are serving God in your work?