LIFE WITHOUT BOUNDARIES – Insights into living eternal life now!
A 4 Part Series by John Beaumont…
Years ago we heard of a missionary to an African country who
was translating the Bible into the local language, with the help of several local people. They came across one really difficult problem. Nobody could think of how to translate the word and concept of eternity.
There seemed to be nothing similar to it at all in the local language.
This was pondered over several months until one morning a key local
helper burst into the missionary’s tent exclaiming gleefully, ‘I’ve found it,
I’ve found it!’ His idea was to translate eternity into ‘life without
boundaries.’ What an inspired thought!
Over the past weekend I have felt that a particular comment and
question from a visitor tied in with two emails I received the following day
and linked with some things that have been stirring within me for a while.
This is an attempt to weave the somewhat diverse threads into something
that I trust will be seen as helpful, meaningful and important.
BLINDING BOUNDARIES
The comment I refer to came from a couple with whom our visiting
friends were sharing Jesus. However, the couple were staunch followers of
a so-called Christian thing [that is, group, sect or denomination] and
wanted nothing of the Good News of Christ’s saving grace. However our
friends commented that since these folk read their bible regularly – right
through once a year, I believe – they were praying that the Lord would open
their eyes to gospel truth through their Scripture reading.
The question was whether regular bible reading must lead to a
response to the claims of Christ. I hadn’t thought about this matter in quite
the same way before, but immediately named quite a number of groups and
even recognised and widely acceptable denominations where members
regularly read their bibles and yet only very rarely discover anything in the
sacred Book that takes them beyond the beliefs of the group they are in.
They haven’t discovered the eternity of life without boundaries – life without
man made restrictions, limitations and the smallness of human reason and
understanding.
[This excellent article is available to read in full on www.hislife.co.uk and is printed with permission from John Beaumont. It is both challenging and enlarging. We will continue with the rest another time]