As time slips by
By Paul Bawden
It’s March already on the 2023 Calendar. As time slips by, here are some recent headlines that have come to the fore.
**Ukraine war enters its second year.
**A Yale Professor Suggested Mass Suicide for Old People in Japan. What Did He Mean?
**Murdaugh’s legal team returns to ask more questions after prosecution zeroes in on lies.
**Controversial Trans Clinic Pushed Schools to ‘Affirm’ 5th Grade Girls Identifying as Boys.
**Canada considers assisted suicide for kids without parental consent.
**Teen pressured into abortion by social service agent without parents’ consent, lawsuit claims.
**Teacher Claims She Knows Better than Parents Because ‘I Have a Master’s Degree.’
More headlines could be given, but what are these headlines really about? One thing – LIFE!! No matter whether it’s the war in Ukraine, or what happens to adults and children, the bottom line is that one’s personal life is at stake.
Why so? One’s life is what makes a person a unique individual and infinitely valuable. It’s who one is – male or female. It’s who one is in one’s personality. Each individual is equal and should be respected, while, at the same time, each individual adds his or her dimension to what the society is all about.
Reading these headlines, it becomes quickly apparent to me that life is not so valuable. What’s happening here? Man has decided to be his own authority regarding life. He thinks he can take into his hands how he deals with life, and in the process life loses it’s value. From where does he get that idea?
Only the Bible provides us the answer to that question. Regardless of whether or not one agrees, the bottom line is that there is a spiritual battle going on in the USA and the world. The battle is between the biblical God and His forces – angels, and the forces of the Satan, the evil one, and his demons (Ephesians 6:11-12)
Jesus put it this way in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” Jesus knew that the thief’s, the evil one’s, desire and action was to devalue, distort, and destroy the life He had created. How does the evil one make that happen in our society? He brings his influence on people to fulfill his purpose of devaluing life in different ways. This doesn’t mean that people aren’t responsible for their actions, but Satan exerts his sway to devalue, distort, confuse, change, even murder the life the biblical God has created in His image to glorify Him.
Such is certainly a sad commentary on what is happening in the USA, particularly through the government, various groups, and individuals. When life is not considered sacred with infinite value, a culture becomes a culture of death not life.
In spite of all the negative and sinful activities in our culture, there is good news – called the gospel – for Jesus continued in John 10:10 – “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly – in surplus.” That’s a revolutionary statement. For Jesus is saying that in the midst of a death culture, and with each of us having death within us, there is a new kind of life – eternal LIFE – which each of us can experience. That’s why Jesus came and went to the cross, was buried, and conquered the grave bodily. In so doing, He won for us His kind of life, eternal life (John 3:16).
The believer in and follower of Jesus Christ receives His eternal life. Now the believer knows, as male or female, that one’s life is infinitely valuable, and one’s purpose here is to live a holy and pure life to glorify God in what one thinks, says, and does (I Corinthians 10:31). And the believer has the assurance that after this life, the Lord’s presence is one’s destination. I trust you are among that number enjoying living in Christ’s eternal and satisfying LIFE as time slips by!!
Paul Bawden is married and served in the pastoral ministry for 45 years, retiring in 2011. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Speech and attended Dallas Theological Seminary, receiving a Master of Theology. He has taken counseling courses at Trinity Evangelical Seminary in Deerfield, Illinois. Paul is a lifetime member of the Evangelical Free Church of America, as well as being a member of Interim Pastor Ministries (IPM), which serves churches during their time of transition in searching for a new pastor. He writes for Union Gospel Press, as well as being a volunteer writer for GotQuestions.org. Paul likes to write, read, bike, and work in the yard. The Bawdens have had the privilege to travel to Mexico and Romania on mission trips and visited various countries in Europe.