Life & Death - Can't Live Without Em'
A Devotion
The Goodsoil Discipleship Ministry
By Bro. Andy Madonio
September 9, 2000
Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 2 Corinthians 4:10-11
To describe the climate of a tropical island as "hot" carries with it absolutely no meaning to a native who has lived there all his life and has experienced nothing else; he has no other point of reference. Similarly, to tell a polar bear that his massive fur coat is obviously meant to protect him from the deadly frigid cold is as meaningful as informing a deep dwelling ocean fish that it sure is dark down where he swims. "What is cold?" "What is dark?" 'Cold' and 'dark' are relative only if you've experienced something like warm and light. One half is meaningless without the other. Together they are complete and perfectly balanced concepts.
One needs a complete understanding, a full-scale reference from 'cold' to 'hot' to understand what each term really means. 'High' is meaningless until 'low' is observed -- one must be pitted against the other to define both. An act performed may be 'good' or 'bad,' but until we understand both 'good' and 'bad,' it is just an act -- nothing more can be said about it. Up and down, hot and cold, good and bad; all this seems rather mundane doesn't it? How about righteousness and sin, good and evil, Heaven and hell, Jesus and Satan? Does the picture begin to be clearer? What is one without the other?
And now, consider life and death. This strange bible of mine seems to repeatedly tell me that death must hold hands with life. If I desire the one -- life, I must firmly grasp (even embrace!) death in the deal as well. I must continually cart it wherever I go, and consent to be delivered to its doorstep. Why? So that the Life of Jesus will be manifested -- made clear and obvious to others. They must see His death to appreciate real life, and so must we ourselves.
Do you desire to make His life clear to yourself and others? Then you must make His death crystal clear as well. One cannot understand the truth of life until it is contrasted with the truth of death. It is nothing more than preaching Christ crucified with your life every day, a living and breathing sermon illuminating the truth of both.
