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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 7, NUMBER 41, OCTOBER 14, 2007 THE CONTINUING CYCLE OF LIFE Recent events have caused me to think about the continuing cycle of life. So many new little ones have been born into this world, and at the same time, many individuals that I have known and loved for years have passed on. With the birth of my grandson I so badly wanted to pick up the phone and call my mom and dad and share the joyous news with them. However, they are not here anymore. I can just envision how my father-in-law would have beamed with pride at the birth of the child of his “Little King.” That’s what he always called my son. My in-laws are not here anymore either, but somehow I know that they know. This is just the way life is, some are born and some die. It is the continuing cycle of life, and it has been so since death entered into the world. How then should we view this physical cycle that we cannot change? By embracing life and living it to its righteous fullest. I am reminded of the gloriously simple statement found in Micah 6:8 where the prophet wrote, “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” What a wonderful event is the birth of a child! Indeed, the psalmist wrote in Psalm 127:3-5, “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” Each child is a little bundle of potential. Who knows what they will turn out to be and how they will affect the world in which they live. If all goes according to the normal order of things, they will pass through all of the phases of life. They will come to know the joys and the sadness, the highs and the lows of this journey, perhaps at some point even being able to rejoice in the birth of their own child. Inevitably, the physical journey will end. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:1-2, “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.” In the book of Psalms, we find in Psalm 90:10, “The days of our years are threescore and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” In addition to the physical death that all must face if the Lord does not return before we die, is the spiritual death. When an individual sins, he or she dies. As a matter of fact, the state in which they find themselves is referred to in scripture as “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:9). In this case death is really a separation - a separation between the sinner and God. Isaiah described it this way in Isaiah 59:1-2, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” If the situation is not changed, when physical death occurs the individual faces an eternity of torment in Hell, a place Jesus described as “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:46 & 48). That eternity of suffering can be avoided by what the Lord called being “born again” (John 3:3). One who is dead spiritually must be made alive spiritually. When a leader of the Jews by the name of Nicodemus asked Jesus “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” The Lord answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:4-5). This process of being “born again” involves believing in Jesus (Mark 16:16), repenting of sins (Luke 13:3 & 5), confessing one’s faith in Christ (Acts 8:37), and being baptized in water for the remission of one’s sins (Acts 2:38). Such an individual, faithfully serving the Lord for the remainder of his or her life, will be eternally in heaven. The physical cycle of life is unavoidable, but the only inevitable part of the spiritual cycle is that at some point we will sin. Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” This does not mean that we have to sin, but only that we all do. Whether we are “born again” to spiritual life depends on us. Greg Litmer
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