LIFE IN THE BALANCE: Knowing Its Source

Look carefully.

Because the most effective counterfeit is the closest to the truth. Whether it’s currency or ideology, every good fraud requires an adequate level of authenticity in order to make it believable.

In fact, history confirms there’s no limit to the amount of deceit the human mind can submit. But the real tragedy lies not so much in its origin as it does in the results.  

Considering the number of times Jesus Christ was recorded in the Bible as having spoken about “life” to His disciples, it seems to be a subject worth investigating.  So, it only makes sense that an accurate definition of life should be relevant to my life.

But everyone knows what life is…right?   It’s the opposite of death.  What else do I need to know? Perhaps the account of our Lord’s creation of the universe could shed some light on just what this term meant from the beginning:

“Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil….

…The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.””  [Gen. 2:7-9, 16-17]  [underscore mine]

The text confirms only One wellspring of life-giving capability for human beings as being generated by the Creator’s “breath.”  And, interestingly enough, the sole provision for sustaining this remarkable gift to its full potential is recorded as a familiar and well-rooted source of nutrition known to Mankind—the tree.

The reader can easily conclude that life, in its most perfect dimension, was accessible from only One Source of the renewable produce in the garden, and that from day one, any inclination to secure life has always been regarded as a choice.  

Over three thousand years later, the Lord Jesus Christ urged His disciples to exercise the same type of good judgement when making personal decisions:

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who are finding it.”  [Matt. 7:13-14]   [my emphasis]   

Neither the author nor Jesus Himself must have felt it necessary to provide some deeper explanation about what “life” meant in this narrative.  For, in one respect, life was something everybody breathing and listening to Him did indeed have.  But, on the other hand, receiving “life” was a chronic, unfading ambition of God’s people in the First Century.  

[How did the first disciples perceive “life?” see: The Precious Pearl of Life.]

And this passage below, from the book of Genesis, lays fairly close to the needle of a common thread of thought woven into the Scriptures.  That is to say, a conditional offer, submitted over and over again, and always coming from the same life-giving Source:

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” [The Lord’s words spoken to His people through Moses; Deut. 30:19-20]  [my emphasis]

[What’s a common thread?  see: Common Threads are Common]

Over two-thousand years have passed since Jesus Christ walked on the Earth and spoke in an open and straightforward manner to His disciples about a path that leads to something He referred to as “life.”  And, in as many years, some men have taken His expression, often with the best of intentions, and poured for themselves what they considered to be a more compatible foundation upon which to build Christ’s path to life—one the world can live more comfortably with.

As a result, counterfeit teachings have seeped quietly through cracks in the Lord’s congregations.  The Master of Deception never sleeps, and his lies are music to the ticklish ear.

Sadly, the Only One who can truly give life, sustain it, take it back, then give it again is unwittingly profaned through the most innocent stroke of a pen or flap of the tongue.

One thing is certain.

Life is good.

This topic obviously covers a lot of ground, and The Carpenter’s Journal will attempt to walk through it in the coming weeks.

“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”  [Jn. 1:4]