“But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.” (Acts 5:19-20)
Diets for weight loss have lost some of their popularity as we have come to understand that eating properly has to become a way of life, not just a quick fix before a class reunion or 20th wedding anniversary. Otherwise, we are simply enduring transitory deprivation until we reach a certain weight, when we can then resume our real lives.
I think some people have the mistaken idea that when God saves us, the promised eternal life will begin in eternity, not continue through it. On the contrary, if an individual’s so-called Christianity is limited to occasional church attendance with no recognition of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in his or her life, that person may not have eternal life at all. He or she may have only gone on a “religious diet.”
When the angel instructed those prison escapees to speak to the people “all the words of this life,” they knew he was talking about something not just a matter of life after death, but life before death. This is not a hobby we’re talking about here. It’s a real, honest-to-God (in the true sense of the word) life. The life Jesus was talking about in John 10:10—abundant, resurrection life. The kind that sometimes leaves you out of breath, under-appreciated, but always overjoyed! As martyred missionary, Jim Eliot, said, “Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.” He did; and we are still talking about what he accomplished in 29 short years.
Live life so fully that there will be a big empty place after you’re gone.
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