ETERNAL LOVE
Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question: "Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother's name. Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them, and still there were no children. Last of all, the woman also died. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her." Jesus replied, "Your mistake is that you don't know the Scriptures, and you don't know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.
Mark 12:18-25 (NLT)
'Til death do us part. You've probably heard this at a wedding. If you're married, you've perhaps even made this verbatim promise to love your spouse every day for the rest of your life. Some days are certainly more trying than others, but we nevertheless endure in our love as long as we both shall live. While it may sound more romantic to say forever, the truth is marriage will not ensure into the next life.
One takeaway from this truth is that our love for Jesus should outweigh our love even for our spouse. To be clear, there's no human being that you should love more. Ephesians 5 speaks of mutual submission to one another. It's a unique relationship, one that is rich and satisfying. But your spouse didn't die to save your soul. Jesus did; therefore, our love for Him should be greater than our love for our spouse.
When we leave this life, we'll be present with God. To stand in His presence and behold His beauty and grandeur will cause all else to pale in comparison. As much as I love my wife, I know that one day, I'll be face-to-face with Jesus, and the rest of my eternity will be fixated and focused on Him to the exclusion of all else. I hope my wife and I will be friends in eternity, but Jesus eclipses all others—wife, kids, extended family, friends, etc.
One other note from the passage above—Mark 12:25 says that our lack of marriage is one way we'll be like the angels. But we do not become angels. We will be given resurrection bodies (see 2 Corinthians 5). To my knowledge, those bodies won't feature wings. We're not to become angels— our relationship with God is so much more special.
APPLICATION: How can you live in light of what is to come in eternity? How are your day-to-day actions impacted as you consider the brevity of this life? What is God placing on your heart?
PRAYER: Lord, thank You for the blessings You bestow in this life. Help me every day to be thankful for Your grace. Please help me to live in light of eternity. In Jesus' name, amen.
“… Our Father in heaven…” Matthew 6:9b (NLT)
- What do You want to say to me today as my Father?
“… may Your name be kept holy.” Matthew 6:9c (NLT)
- What do You want to reveal to me about Your power today?
“May Your Kingdom come soon.” Matthew 6:10a (NLT)
- Help me make Your priorities my priorities today.
“Give us today the food we need,” Matthew 6:11 (NLT)
- Is there anything specific You want me to do with my time or the people I’m around today?
“and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” Matthew 6:12 (NLT)
- Reveal to me anyone I need to forgive or ask for forgiveness.
“And don’t let us yield to temptation…” Matthew 6:13a (NLT)
- Is there anywhere I’m vulnerable to temptation?