11/20 Casey (see HERE)
I’ve long wondered how otherwise
positive and vibrant people could prefer to believe that they will cease to
exist once this present life is over. How
could a lover of life here on earth, awesome as it is, not long for life
eternal with the One who created it all?
I talked with one of these people, Casey, an artist from New Zealand, about just this sort of thing. Casey grew up in an orthodox Jewish family and synagogue and prefers to believe that all she will leave behind will be her story, or legacy, and hopes her story will be about someone who lived this life to the fullest because this is all there is.
But positive as she is, there is one thing that Casey looks forward to escaping from when life ceases to exist.
Guilt.
I asked more about this, and it’s not necessarily the guilt of offending a holy God, because she doesn’t necessarily believe that God would be so personally involved with us to be concerned about sin. Rather, it’s the guilt that comes with not living up to the group expectations of society or one’s family, the fear of being a stain on the family name. Better to leave behind a positive legacy and never have to live with that fear again, would be her conclusion.
I hadn’t really thought about that aspect of guilt before, probably because as an American we are generally taught to be less concerned about how we represent our family or tribe, and more concerned about how we represent ourselves.
But whether it comes from a God who will one day judge the content of our character and the integrity of our actions, or other people who will judge how well we upheld the family name, I think I can begin to understand why guilt would be something people would be glad to be relieved of, even if it means they must cease to exist.
The Bible has both bad and good news for people like Casey who are so concerned about guilt. The bad news is that we can’t escape it simply because we will cease to exist, because we won’t cease to exist. God has put “eternity in the heart of man” – so much so that what we experience physically in this present life is actually more transitory and less “real” than that which exists spiritually – “…as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)
Casey had said that life becomes more precious when one believes this is all there is, but I think the opposite is true – if we know we will live forever than this life becomes even more precious in preparing us for that eternity. The bad news would be that we can’t escape our guilt, because without some sort of intervention it too will exist with us forever.
But the good news is that there IS some sort of intervention. The same Holy God to whom we are accountable offers to be the One who will take away our guilt. Forever.
We are told in Colossians 2 – “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”
This is the good news of the Gospel. In Christ, God takes away our guilt and says “There is therefore now no condemnation (guilt) for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8) The guilt that first exposed Adam and Eve and drove them to hide from God also separates us from a right relationship with our Creator – but in Christ we can have the peace with God that passes all understanding as our guilt is taken away and we experience God as our Heavenly Father.
I pray for that peace and wonder and joy for Casey and all those who struggle with that life-robbing sense of guilt from which there seems no escape. It doesn’t have to be this way. There truly is that escape is the Messiah, Jesus, the Christ.
Thanks, Casey, for allowing me to
record our conversation! It can be seen on
my YouTube channel.
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