Thoughts On Eternal Life

So, I'm no expert on what exactly happens after we die, and none of us really knows for sure all the ins and outs, but I do believe we're given hints and clues and outright statements and I believe that what Jesus promises is a physical resurrection in order that we might live forever under his reign as King.

Assuming that's so, isn't it possible, even probable, that what eternal life is is simply that, we live eternally? What I mean is that we're not (as we often seem to believe) going to suddenly be some other heart, soul, and mind, but will continue to become the people we are as the heart, soul, mind, and body that feel and think and do the things that our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies do. What I mean is that we keep being who we are, but for eternity. And that the eternal aspect simply means that we continue to become the people that we are already on our way to becoming.

If that were so, then we get free of the disconnect of not following Jesus now and being the kind of people who somehow will later. We stop thinking we can be people who fight in wars now, but will suddenly beat swords into plough shares in an instant. We stop thinking that we can feel one way about money and power now, but will abruptly feel another way about it when Jesus returns. Eternity becomes an opportunity to become someone who is following Jesus or someone who isn't. To turn into the person we are currently becoming.

Your eternal life would then be shaped by who it is that you become and that, in turn, is shaped by who it is you choose to follow. Those who walk in the way of Jesus; a way of love of God and neighbor, of justice and mercy and humility, of worship and service, of trust and obedience, find themselves and the world around them getting better every day. Those who choose to walk in their own way, find themselves and the world around them getting worse.

And maybe that's what we mean when we talk about heaven and hell. Maybe we've seen glimpses of them already. Maybe eternity has already started. Maybe we're already on our way to wherever it is we're headed. And maybe it isn't too late to change direction and walk in a different way. And maybe that's what Jesus came to show us how to do.