04.17.14

Jesus said to her (Martha), “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” - John 11:25-26 NKJV.

Stig Kernell planned ahead for when he would die and wrote his own obituary. Stig was 92-years-old when he passed away April 6^th. As planned, the obituary written by Stig was published by the local funeral home. Here is his obituary in its entirety: “Jag ar dod.” In English, “I am dead.” You might think that Stig’s life was an unpleasant one; however, his family says that it was far from being dull. Stig was a pilot, a flight instructor, an aviation historian and once made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest aviation book collection. His son, Lars, says about his father, “He was a special man with a very particular sense of humor and a twinkle in his eye.” 

Jesus actually wrote His obituary far in advance of His physical death and here it is: “I am the resurrection and the life.” A shorter version would read: I AM ALIVE! Jesus lived a far shorter life than did Stig Kernell and yet accomplished all that had been planned. As Jesus makes His sixth statement from the cross saying (in John 19:30) “It is finished!” Jesus rose triumphantly from the dead on the third day and appeared to many before ascending into Heaven. 

What will your obituary say? Have you already written it? If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, God has already written your obituary; at least the one that matters, and here is what it says that you are: “Alive to God in Christ.” Here is the shorter version: I AM ALIVE! Romans 6:11 says, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” In Ephesians 2:4-6 we are told, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us ALIVE together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” 1 Peter 3:18 tells us we are ALIVE because of the sacrifice of Jesus, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” 

Now that we know where we are going if we have Jesus as our Savior we just need to live life now. We have a choice. We can choose the life Jesus came to give us (John 10:10b) or we can choose the life the devil wants us to have while here on this earth (John 10:10a). We have a choice between a life full of life or a life full of dead things. Romans 8:5-6 makes this more clear, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded (governed by the flesh - NIV) is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” How do we make the right choice? The Bible tells us in Romans 13:14, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ that we are ALIVE eternally if we know Jesus as our Savior! And, that we can have an abundance of life while we are walking on this earth if we will “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Are you alive eternally? If so, are you living the abundant life?