Kaka.D. Iralu
THE Bible says that there is a time for everything under heaven- “a time to be born and a time to die” (Ec.3:1&2). It also says that whoever believes in the redemptive work of Jesus will rise again from the dead and live forever with God in the new heaven and the new earth (Rev. 20:11-15). The Bible however never says that men kind will have a second chance to live a second life on earth. On the contrary, the Bible says: “For it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). The truth then is- one life, one death and one judgment. This truth also means- If one has lived that one life doing all the wrong things, one will never get a second life or second chance to live a second life doing all the right things to make up for the first life lived wrongly. The end of the matter is one of-a short life where at the end of it, regrets cannot be re-addressed in a second life.
The bible further says: “So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Rom. 14:12) In still another passage it says: “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”(Eccl.12:14) As for our works in this one life, Revelations 14:13 says: “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, said the spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their WORKS do follow them.” Note the word “works”. At the end of our earthly journey on earth, it is not our wealth or our degrees but our “works” that will accompany us into the presence of the Lord.
As for one’s short life on earth, the Bible says: “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” (Jas.4:14) Speaking on the same truth, King David, at the end of his life, said thus: “For we are strangers before thee and sojourners, as were all our fathers; our days on earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding.” (1 Chr. 29:15)
Now, this short life cannot be lived in heaven or the Moon or any other planets but here on this earth and in this world. As for this world the Bible says: “The heaven, even the heavens, is the Lord’s; but the earth hath he given to the children of men.” Isa.45: 18 further says: “For thus said the Lord who created the heavens, God himself who formed the earth and made it. He did not create it in vain; he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord and there is none besides me.” This Lord and this God created us in his own Divine image and gave us this earth and this world to subdue and have dominion over it (Gen.1: 28). To run its affairs, God gave us his laws and his principles (Ex.20:1-17).
But here, when we engage in these God given earthly responsibilities, some Christians say that we are engaging in worldly things and not the things of God. To such Christians, I would say: This world was not created by Satan for his fallen angels to rule and subjugate. No, it was created by God for our habitation and our joy. In Gen. 1:31, the word of God says’ “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good…” Yes, Satan through Adam and Eve had usurped man’s ruler ship of this world. He now claims that the world and all its glory belongs to him. In Luke 4:5&6 the scriptures records: “And the devil, took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, to you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me and I give it and it to whom I will”. But Jesus rejected this offer and instead has taught us to pray: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10).
The end of the matter is therefore: Only one short life to live and only one world to live it. The corollary question is: How then shall we live it? Shall we live it as man and woman created in the divine image of God or as subjects of satanic philosophies and ideologies where we are reduced to even creatures lower than that of animals? Shall we choose to live under the dictates of political ideologies that reduces us to mere economic commodities like Marxism? Shall we choose to live under the dictates of political laws that treats us as “subjects” that can even be shot to death on mere suspicion? (e.g. Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958).
The choice is ours to make and I do not know how you have chosen to live this one precious life that God has given to you. But as for me, I have chosen to live it with dignity and freedom.
