How to go about becoming the people God always intended us to be
We have just come through the Easter season, the most important Christian festival.
This is meant to be a joyful celebration of life. The hope of Easter is a hope for new life, here and now, because of the victory Christ has already won for us over death.
This is in anticipation of a renewed life at the return of Christ, when that victory will be finally made effective for all those who put their faith and trust in him.
In the meantime, we are called to (responsibly) enjoy all the good things God has placed within his creation, being thankful for them and sharing them with others so the fullness of life is available to everyone.
The focus on this life, which we find throughout the Bible, means that whatever we do in this life is important to God and important for us.
Our employment, our hobbies, our sports, our family life, our political life — they are all aspects of our sharing in the human task of stewardship in caring for the earth, its creatures and each other.
It is God who has given us these tasks and calls us to carry them out in ways which recognise his authority over us and over what we do.
Following his ways for us will bring blessing for ourselves and others.
In the Bible we find 30 of the parables Jesus told, but only one of them (the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16) draws on imagery of what happens after death.
The remaining 29 parables all use imagery from one or another form of everyday human activity as the basis of the stories. I take that as an indication that we should have a similar emphasis on our work, and other activities, in this life.
One dominant Christian world view gives great emphasis to life after death, which is for eternity, while life here and now is seen as a brief moment in comparison.
But actually, the Bible has very little to say about life after death. Some see human life as a test, to sort out the ones who are entitled to go to heaven when they die.
In contrast to that, the Bible focuses on Jesus' resurrection as the event that points us to a life lived well, and afterwards to receive eternal life within the fully renewed creation.
Jesus said: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)
By that, he means our life in this world first, and then, in our resurrection to eternal life which is yet to come.
That is our hope, made possible because of his resurrection. Hope is the confident expectation of that which we cannot yet see.
This is the reason why Easter is such a joyful celebration and the most important festival for Christianity — it focuses our attention again on the victory over death which Christ has already won.
All who follow Jesus will likewise be raised bodily from the dead at his return, when they will enjoy life forever on a renewed earth from which all sickness, sadness, pain and death has gone (Revelation 21:4).
The point of being a Christian is not that it offers entry into heaven, but rather that through faith in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can become the people God always intended us to be.
To be a Christian is to be truly human in every way, and human life is earthly, bodily life, here and now. God made us for this earth, to be its stewards and caretakers, developing its resources in accordance with his laws and ensuring that all have a share in what the earth produces through our efforts.
The billionaires who are amassing huge stores of wealth for themselves, and buying their way into government favours, are in flagrant breach of the commandments of God: the resources of the earth are for all, not the favoured few.
God made many promises to the people of ancient Israel regarding fertility of crops and herds, of children to bring delight and to share in the life of God's people, from one generation to the next.
Those promises were conditional on obedience, but despite that, the Israelites went off after false gods instead, which could not give the blessings which God had promised.
Similarly today, it is all too easy to seek for prosperity, security or good health through following ways of life which are at odds with God's wishes for us.
We also turn to false gods (such as financial prosperity, military strength, accumulation of many possessions, political power) in the search for comfort and wellbeing, using methods which are destructive of the earth and harmful to living things.
Faithfully following God's ways will bring blessing here and now and, in the world to come, eternal life.
■Chris Gousmett is a retired author from Mosgiel.
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