| Thursday, June 7, 2007 |
| The Gift of Men |
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
In J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle earth mythology there are two kinds of creatures that were made by Eru (The One): elves and men. Now the elves were bound to the earth in such a way that if they did die they would return to another part of middle earth. Men however were not bound to the earth and were in fact frail and mortal. When they died their spirit would leave the earth.
Tolkien called this distinction between the elves and men: The Gift of Men. It is said in his mythology that honorable men did not fear death at all because of this fact and it was only by the influence of the dark lord that some men feared death.
I was thinking about this the other day in reference to Romans 6:23. It is always said that death (both spiritual and physical) was born because of sin, however I think we may not truly understand the purpose of death.
So...God is holy and man isn't. Kind of hard to sit down at a table together with differences like that. Jesus dying for us didn't change that did it? I am still guilty of sin even though I believe that Jesus has saved me. If sin = death then shouldn't that have changed when Jesus gave His life for us? Instead what happened was Jesus repaired the link so that we "could" have a relationship with God.
God longs to renew his relationship with man (Like He had with Adam). Romans says the wages of sin is death and that is true, however for the Christian it is a good thing. In God's perfect plan death has become the mechanism of physical and spiritual relationship with man. It truly is a gift like Tolkien envisioned. Could you imagine going through life learning about God, reading the Bible, worshiping, going to church but never getting to see Him face to face?
So...believing in Jesus is the first part. That starts the relationship, but it isn't until death that the relationship is fulfilled.
The gift of men is that we are destined for a better place and for direct relationship with God. |
posted by Andrew & Amanda Wheeler @ 9:19 PM  |
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