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“Nothing lasts forever”, the saying goes. Indeed, most of the things we make or build are impermanent: even the great pyramids are eroded by the desert winds. Our relationships seem impermanent too: every person has experienced loss in their lives: a “falling out”, an irretrievably broken relationship, or the death of a loved one. Is everything passing? Is nothing lasting?
Christianity offers a definitive answer to this question. God is everlasting [Isaiah 40:28], and God loves the world so much that he gave his only son, Jesus, so that whoever believes in him might not die, but receive eternal life [John 3:16]. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” [John 11:25-26]
What does this actually mean? No, it does not mean that Christians can’t experience physical death: in fact, Jesus himself died painfully on a cross. But Jesus rose from the dead, and God will resurrect those who believe in Jesus, just as he resurrected Jesus himself. And for we who believe in Jesus, the life we will receive at this resurrection is the eternal life of God, a life that cannot die.
If this is really true, then it’s not actually correct that “nothing lasts forever“. People do. One consequence is this: of all the things we do in our lives, those things that touch people are the things that are most permanent. In the end, it is not monuments that last, or works of art, or great works of literature. These can perish, they can be lost or forgotten. Rather, it is people who can last forever, human beings like you and me, because God loved the world so much that he sent his son Jesus to give us eternal life.
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