Abolishing death

"God's own purpose ... has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." II Time 1: 9-10

What a statement: God's purpose was revealed through Jesus and abolished death! For the past several years I have been sick a lot and sometimes seemed near death, so somehow the thought that the purpose of God in Jesus was to abolish death is especially dear to me. If I abolish something, I forbid it to occur or be. So God forbade death. He said, "It's got to stop!!!" The alienation from God must end forever! What amazing good news. But He did not stop there. He not only ended death, but also brought life and immortality. So, maybe the absence of death would have seemed good enough to us, but it was not good enough to Him. In His love for us He enabled me to have full, eternal life with Him. That is an amazing trade, to remove the greatest curse of the ages and place the ageless and greatest blessing on me.

Father, help me to live today in the full light of your life. Help my life to reveal the end of death and the ageless life to the world around me.