Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment. Therefore we were born to die. This is the first death. The first death is the death of the physical body. The first death has no effect on the part of us that is eternal, that is, our soul. When our physical body perishes and returns to the dust, we do not cease to exist. In fact our soul will last for eternity to come; it will never cease to exist. To die a physical death is simply for us to be away from our physical body. When we still live in the body, we have a poor understanding of our eternal soul. It is like seeing a poor reflection from a mirror. We get distorted ideas about ourselves. But when our physical body has been put aside, we shall see clearly who we are. Our true identity is in our eternal soul, not in our temporary physical body. What is temporary cannot be the identity of what is eternal. Dying a physical death does not change our identity at all. It is simply the transition from what is temporary to what is eternal.

While we still live in our physical body, what is temporary is blocking our view of eternity. We worry about our life, what we shall eat, about our body, what we shall wear. We worry about temporary things, things that would not matter within a matter of decades. We have become totally absorbed in things of this life. We have not paused for a single moment to think about what lies beyond life on earth. Life on earth is like a winding path. We cannot see beyond the corner. We cannot see what lies ahead. But when our body returns to the dust, we have no more temporary things to worry about. Our attention is no longer divided. The winding path has become straight. There are no more corners. Everything is in sight. Eternity begins from here on out. It is a totally new reality, the spiritual reality, and the true reality. Then we realize that physical reality is temporary and spiritual reality is eternal.

However, the temporary nature of physical reality does not mean that our life in the body is not significant at all. Quite on the contrary it is extremely significant. For what we do while in the body will determine how our soul will turn out in eternity. Several decades of physical reality will determine our spiritual reality for eternity to come. That is how significant our life in the body is. Therefore, if in this life we do things that will be counted against us in eternity, our loss is beyond calculation. We would have traded eternity for the moment. If we live just for the moment, we have lost the entire eternity, we will have an entire eternity of hardships waiting for us. That is the worst kind of foolishness we can ever have, the foolishness that will condemn us for eternity to come.

It is in our human nature to have exactly that kind of foolishness, because we have a sinful nature. Our sinful nature is the worst kind of foolishness. Our sinful nature compels us to enjoy the temporary pleasure of sin. The temporary pleasure of sin makes us feel good in the flesh for brief moments. We mistake feeling good in the flesh for all there is about life in the body. We mistake feeling good in the flesh for the well being of our soul. That is how confused we are about physical reality and spiritual reality while we still live in the body. But there can be no well being in our soul when we sin. The sins we commit while in the body will be counted against us in eternity. God will give to each person according to what he has done. We will all be sentenced to a second death, the spiritual death, for the wages of sin is death (ROMANS 6:23). No one can escape from it. There is no exception, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (ROMANS 3:23). We will all perish in our own sins. The pleasure of sin is temporary, but the consequence of sin is eternal. By sinning we have traded the eternal well being of our soul for the temporary pleasure of sin. Our sinful nature is indeed our worst foolishness.

Our sinful nature is our worst enemy. We will die a spiritual death because of it. Spiritual death does not cause our soul to suddenly vanish. Our soul will never cease to exist. Rather spiritual death is the reality of being totally separated from God. We are like a plant. If the root of a plant is cut off, the plant will live for a while, but eventually it will wither. It is the same with us. God is the root of all of us because he is the creator of us all. But we have been cut off from God because of sin. Our body lasts for a while, but soon enough it will wither like a plant without root.

But God has provided a way for us to be restored to himself, to be grafted to the root again. For what we cannot do for ourselves, God sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to die for sinners. Jesus shed his blood on the cross for the sins of the whole world. By faith in Jesus we can be reconciled to God through Jesus blood. When we believe what Jesus has done for us on the cross, all our sins, past, present and future, will be washed away by the blood of Jesus. We shall be righteous before God without the blemish of sin. The hostility of sin between God and man has been taken away by the blood of Jesus. Thus, we are connected to God through Jesus just as a plant is connected to its root. We have been given the right to become children of God; we are members of God s household. The prodigal son has come home and returned to his root when he puts his faith in Jesus. This very day, deny yourselves the pleasure of sin, turn from your sins and turn to Jesus by faith for your salvation, for today is the day of salvation. It is time for you to come home to God the Father, the root of us all.