davidbowerkingwood

How Long Do You Want to Live?

One afternoon I was watching “The Five” on Fox News; the subject happened to be longevity. If memory serves me correct one of the “Five” said she would like to live forever; since the speaker was young and beautiful that might be easier to understand but I was very sure that would not be what I wanted.

The difficulty I have with living forever as I am now is one I inherited, a birth defect, a problem I actually share with you and everyone else alive today on this planet including the young lady referenced in the first paragraph. We have all been born spiritually dead with a fallen, sinful nature living in us and we’re inhabiting a sin-cursed mortal body which will return to the dust from which it was made. Despite this common problem, many seem to be concerned about how long they will live; lifespan or longevity is a popular subject today.

The subject of longevity, as often viewed, seems to focus on techniques and procedures for keeping our mortal, dust bound bodies intact and functioning as long as possible. The number of options that are available to supposedly slow down the aging process are too numerous to mention in a short article and can range in price from pocket change to a king’s ransom.

What About our Bodies?

It is natural for each of us to associate others with their bodies; someone walks into the room and we identify them by their bodies, they are their bodies and if their bodies aren’t there neither are they. This is the way our human experience has conditioned us to think of others; if their bodies are there, they are there; if their bodies are not there then they are not there. This approach seems to work well so it is easy to buy into that way of thinking.

The problem comes in when the body starts to wear out and then, eventually, shuts down, dies; the body must then be buried but does that mean we have buried our friends and family; do they accompany their bodies into the grave or perhaps cease to exist?

There are some who believe our mortal lives are the beginning and end of who we are and when we die it’s all over; that is a rather sad perspective if this mortal life is all there is to our existence. As with any subject that is beyond our human experience, the Bible is the only reliable source of information so what does the Bible tell us about human life?

What Does the Bible Say About Human Life?

Those of us who have received Christ as Savior generally believe the Bible to be the word of God, inspired and free of error in the original languages, this is what I believe with all my heart. From the very beginning, the Bible provides some fascinating insights into the human condition.

In Genesis Chapter 1:1-25 we are given the account of the creation of all of the heavens and earth and all living things excepting mankind. All of this creation is spoken into existence by the power of our omnipotent God.

In verse 26 we encounter an infinitely significant and astounding change, God determines to make man in His own image; think about that for a moment, mankind is made in the image of God; mankind is unique in the creation account. We have the first record of mankind’s creation in verse 27 where it is written:

²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

We get more information on this event in Genesis 2:7,

⁷ Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

We see from this that while our bodies are from the dust of the ground, our living being, the living essence of who we are, came from the eternal creator God of the universe; we are made in the image of God, we share God’s image. Although the image of God in man was marred by Adam’s sin it was not removed; our living essence still shares certain significantly important characteristics of God’s image.

We will conclude our consideration of this matter next week as we examine the ramifications of being made in the image of God.