Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” John 11:25,26
There is life after death (1 Cor 15:19). The Bible is unequivocal about that. This truth gives us a faith that takes us beyond the grave. Resurrected bodies, worshiping Jesus for ever and ever. Nonetheless, the Gospel is not waiting for our physical deaths in order to kick into action. In the Gospel, there is a message of life after death that applies to this life, today.
There is life after the death of a loved one in this life. There is life after the death of a job in this life. There is life after the death of your dream, your finances, a treasured relationship… There’s life after the death of your ministry or your church.
No matter what dies in our lives in this life, Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And because we still have Jesus we have all we need to start again.
Jesus tells us how in today’s verses: 1) Be alive. 2) Believe in Me.
He said, “Believe Me when I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (Jn 12:24). Too often, we’re looking at the dead kernel instead of the many new seeds. It takes, “Believe in me” to change our focus from death to life.
Sometimes something has to die for there to be life after death in this life “for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” (Jn 11:4). Sometimes God knows we need more than a Band-Aid. Sometimes we need a resurrection to move from surviving to thriving.
Jesus tells us to believe in him. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor 2:9). Believe in Him.