John 11:25-26"You don't have to wait for the
End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one, who believes in me, even
though he or she dies, will live.
26 And everyone who lives
believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?
We live in a world full of
seasons, timing, events, deadlines, budgets and everything that the world needs
to sustain life and at least move the wheel of life a stride further.
We also live in a world of
expectations, demands and happenings.
The last two weeks has
seen my country Kenya plunge
in a dungeon of sorrow and misery as we mourn our fellow 147 Kenyans killed
mercilessly by terrorists in North eastern Kenya.
Its also unfortunate that
this happened just a day before good Friday, when Christians all over the world
commemorate the death of Jesus Christ our lord. Its normal for something of
this magnitude to evoke questions amongst us Kenyans and especially Christians.
We take note that the majority of Young people who perished were Christians who
had woken up for early prayers and devotions oblivious of what and who were
about to attack them in a merciless fashion.
It feels like bewildering
times for Kenya
and for Christians there are those who are wondering if God is good why would
he let such an obnoxious episode rule the light of day . They are those who
said that there were warning and prophecies that preceded this attack. There
are much estimation out there to try and explain what we are in to which are of
no avail in comforting the mourning families nor in restoring, hope peace and
confidence amongst Kenyans
In
death by Love
I
really have no sufficient explanations to answer ‘the problem of evil’ that we
see in our society today. I know there are those who would wish that all our Muslim
brothers be annihilated from this land probably because we are faced by what is
taking shape of jihad killings. Oh how we would wish that evil be eliminated
from us. But if that’s our desire, we are asking that God to kill all people in
the world for evil doesn’t exist independent of human life. Sin got attached to
us like super glue and evil pervaded all faculties of human life. So we can’t
just wish evil away.I wish to submit that God is deeply engraved and sympathizing and encouraging us with all the comfort we need in Christ Jesus. Human suffering reveals the fragility of human life, anytime is time to die, anywhere can be place to die if grammar hasn't eluded me there yet.There are simply million ways to experience suffering and death of the human sol but inside of us we roar with life ,immortality, hope that endures forever.
You don't have to wait for the End. I am, right
now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she
dies, will live.
Let
me draw our attention to the hope we have right here, now.
Jesus
says “I am, right now, resurrection and life”
In
death by love, Jesus ripped away the entity of sin and all vices from us. He is
the resurrection and life.
If
we believed we died in Jesus, let us also believe that we are raised up with
him in a newness of life.
Heb 2:16-17It's obvious, of course, that he didn't
go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of
Abraham.
17 That's why he had to enter
into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest
to get rid of the people's sins(the message Bible)
No words can capture the horror we underwent as a
country in the past week. I do sympathize with the family who lost their loved
ones in the Garrisa attack. I also cant imagine the horror that the cross was.
Smitten and pierced, Christ took upon himself the weight and the intensity of
human suffering. This was one event that for all time changed the course of
history
Yet
we don’t currently see evil completely wiped away from the face of the earth
but we see Christ crowned with glory.
Heb
2:9 What we do see is Jesus, made "not quite as high
as angels," and then, through the experience of death, crowned so much
higher than any angel, with a glory "bright with Eden's dawn light." In that death, by
God's grace, he fully experienced death in every person's place.(The Message)
What we see even in such a travesty is not the
ideal picture of a world rid of sin but we do see Christ who tasted death for
all of us. This is the power of his death because his death was also our death.
He drank that bitter cup to its dregs. He came and lifted us from that misery
which is death and sat us in the highest seat in the heavenly places .
1st Cor 15:55-57Who got the last word,
oh, Death? Oh, Death, who's afraid of you now?
56 It was sin that made death so
frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive
power.
57 But now in a single
victorious stroke of Life, all three - sin, guilt, death - are gone, the gift
of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God (The message)
Who’s got the last laugh now? That which was a
master over us even death is defeated by one stroke of death which was also a
stroke of life. Greater still, sin and guilt and finally death is dealt a
blasting blow by a single stroke of death.
Death is no longer frightening if you know what
life is really yours in Christ. We are not the ones to recoil back at the sight
of life’s uncertainties. Jesus said he who believes in him heaven though he dies
he will still live for he has not really died at all. Its as complex and easy
the same way the cross is to us, the same way the lamb of God was slaughtered
before the foundation of this world .