You destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (2 Timothy 1:10)
Doesn’t it feel good to destroy something? I’m not talking about random acts of destructiveness. I’m talking about destroying something that deserves to be destroyed. It always feels great to destroy something that has plagued you for years.
A few days ago I related the story of how I ran smack dab into a teatherball pole when I was in the second grade. It was a clear sign that I needed some optical enhancements if I was to make a successful go at life. From that day forward I wore glasses (for ten years), and then contact lenses (for ten years), and then glasses again (for ten years). All in all I spent 30 years of my life behind corrective lenses, and it was more than a little uncomfortable.
But then in 2011 someone very generously paid for me to get lasik surgery. What a difference a day makes! The procedure took a total of 3 minutes, and my vision improved immediately. Two days later I went out to lunch with my wife, and I was struck by how beautiful the world was. Colors were brighter than they had ever been. Images were sharper than they had ever been. Life was different, better!
So you can imagine how much I relished the opportunity to destroy my old pair of glasses. I broke them into a thousand pieces and ceremoniously discarded them. It was kind of a rite of passage for me . . . a watershed that bore witness to a new reality and thus demanded a new way of living.
For months after the surgery I would still reach for my glasses in the middle of the night when I woke up needing to go to the bathroom. Such trips were often treacherous under the old regime. I still found myself trying to shift my glasses into a better position on my nose, only to discover – once again – that my face was free!
Destroying those lenses marked the end of the old order of things; now all things had become new!
By his cross and resurrection, Jesus destroyed death. Much like my old glasses, death had become a lens through which we viewed the world. Everywhere we looked, we saw the possibility of death, and found reason to fear death. Or, when the going got tough, we wished for death. Or, when we lost a loved one, we grieved over death. Death was a scorpion with a razor sharp stinger, and we had all been stung by its’ poisonous bite.
But Jesus destroyed death by his resurrection, and brought life and immortality to light.
Yes, I know. Death is still there. Just as I still have a few pair of old glasses in a drawer somewhere, we still must face death. But those old glasses are no longer the lenses through which I see the world. Now the world that I see is bright and clear!
Death no longer clouds our vision. The cross and resurrection causes us to see only light, only life . . . indeed, eternal life. Immortality! Those who believe in Jesus and live will never die. Do you believe this? If you don’t, perhaps you’re still living behind the lenses of death.
Never die. That’s what Jesus said!
By faith Enoch was translated so that he did not see death. Can you still see death? Enoch’s faith was so strong that he could no longer see it. His vision of God was so strong that all he saw was life.
Faith in Christ means that the experience that we call death is no longer what it was cracked up to be. Death for the believer is not about dying, it is about transitioning from a lower level of living to a higher level of living.
Living is what we do. Living is who we are. Life is what he brings. Life is what he gives. Life is who he is.
If you would meditate on this verse, God will bring about a lasik surgery of the Spirit in your life. He will remove the lenses of death, and translate you–Enoch style–so that you can no longer see death! Instead, all you will see is life and immortality!
