Living On

Do we need the promise of eternal life in order to follow Jesus?  Or would we be followers anyway. even if we didn't believe in life after death?

So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth." The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?"  - Acts 8:30-36

In today's reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Philip is guided by the Spirit to a eunuch who is reading Isaiah.

The eunuch wants to understand who the prophesy of Isaiah is about, and Philip tells him about Jesus.

Wouldn't it be great if we could all do what Philip did, share the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, without getting caught up in the judgment of who will live on and who will not?

I think we are afraid to talk about heaven and hell, so we don't talk about Christ.

That's a shame, since so much of what Jesus came to show us was about this life, and making the most of it by helping others live now.

If I spend my days preparing for what will come when I am gone, and I fail to get out into the world to be the light for others, bringing them hope and love, I am wasting what precious time I have.

In the parable of the man storing up his grain, Jesus warns him that his time is already over.  So it is with us when we focus on ourselves and not others.

So, why not do as the eunuch did and seize the moment?

From this moment on, we can be renewed and refreshed, living for others rather than for us.  And we will be reborn, and live on.

More to come...