Life is at work in you

“So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” (2 Corinthians 4:12)

 

People are always walking through the valley of death and life. That is it’s been going on since Adam’s time, not just today. But the reason we feel that more these days is on account of the global prevalence of disease. It is because of the hope for everyone’s happiness that Christians preach and boast of their faith in Jesus Christ. Some point to people who believe in Jesus as selfish. Maybe it hasn’t seemed good to others for Christians to seek and appreciate their own blessings. If so, it is needed suitably for Christians to have a cautious attitude towards others.

 

The blessing of faith in Christ comes entirely in God’s grace. Paul the apostle compared people to earthenware vessels. And he described people of Jesus faith as the earthen bowls which had treasure in themselves. Christian act of preaching Jesus faith is intended to make others aware of that faith. People who have not yet accepted the faith of Jesus would deservedly have different thoughts and attitudes from whom have lived in faith. Nevertheless if they try to have a mutual understanding, all hostility will be gradually gone. One who has faith must not to be conceited, and another who has no faith must not condemn those who have faith.

Believers in Christ have been sometimes accused and persecuted since the past. And yet they didn’t lose heart or collapse. How could they do that? Answer is, true faith makes a life as strong as a tumbling doll. The principle of that doll depends on the center of gravity. The tumbling doll does not fall down at all, because it has a center of gravity at the bottom of the large ball. Likewise, if Christ stays in the center of life, the person will never fall. Even if someone takes him down, he will soon get up and stand upright. Depending on what the center of gravity of life is, the form of life can vary. And that is, whatever the center of gravity is, it will get up in a different state accordingly. Here getting up means success, and for whatever reason people like success. But success is never all good. People have no choice but to live in influence of what made themselves successful. So we need to carefully select what to put at the center of gravity of one’s own life. Let’s find the answer said by Paul the apostle in 2 Corinthians 4:11 and keep it in mind, “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.”

A pandemic named COVID-19 is more spreading worldwide. Korea was successful in quarantine, but the damage is spreading due to recurrence. But on the other hand, it’s a very dark situation, for the virus is invisible, so people often turn a blind eye to the dangers of disease. No cure or vaccine has been developed yet, so we can’t have any clear response to that. People can’t even breathe easily, and it’s also hard to walk around without face mask. If that’s the case, I think it’s near the end of the world. We remember this saying, “Even if the end of the earth comes tomorrow, we’ll plant an apple tree.” Even if there’s only one hour left until the end of the world, as a Christian, the right way to live is to be determined to carry out today’s mission. Even so, we must know this for sure. That is, we must not neglect our perception of the crisis of the life end.

On the real situation of human, the one that Paul the apostle analyzed was death and life. Death and life refer to extreme contrast, but those two are originally in us. I don’t think people understand well what this verse, saying “Death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”

 

Who are ‘we’ and who are ‘you’ expressed in the text sentence? ‘We’ refers to everyone with a body, and ‘you’ refers to the people with Jesus’ life. After all, ‘we’ or ‘you’ means the same one, but they are different according to the spiritual state. Spiritual darkness and physical threat of COVID-19 have come in front of all of us. But that darkness and fear cannot conquer those who have Jesus life. Because Jesus Spirit envelops the person in His arms of health and peace.

 

(Written by Koonoh, Pastor of JDO Presbyterian Church in Korea, on June 21st 2020)