Immortal

On my recent airline flight home from Rwanda, I re-watched a not-so-new movie called Tuck Everlasting.  In this movie, the Tuck family finds a large tree in the forest.  At the base of this tree is a pool of water.  The whole family is thirsty and drinks fully of the water.  Slowly they discover this water held a secret: immortality.  They no longer age, and they are unable to die or be mortally wounded.

Recently I have felt as though the enemy of my soul has taken aim at my heart and shot me through.  He is a wise adversary.  He takes note of where it will hurt us most, and that's right where he hits.  He wants to take us out- completely.

However, I am reminded of a scene in the movie Tuck Everlasting, where the young men are shot, and should be dead.  They are knocked down, but because they are immortal they cannot be killed, so they get back up again & they keep going.

It is the same for us.  For those of us who have eaten of the Tree of Life, we have accepted God's everlasting gift.  We drank fully of the Living Water found there, and we have been changed.  We no longer can be taken out by the enemy.  We are now immortal.  The enemy will still take aim, in fact even more so because he hates the family we belong to now.  We will be hit.  We will fall down, and we will bleed.  But we will get back up again, and we will keep going.  We will reach our destination and receive our reward. 

No weapon formed against us will prosper!  Nothing can take us out.  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us!

If you have felt under attack, take heart!

Isaiah 54 (The Message translation)
You’ll be built solid, grounded in righteousness,
    far from any trouble—nothing to fear!
    far from terror—it won’t even come close!
If anyone attacks you,
    don’t for a moment suppose that I sent them,
And if any should attack,
    nothing will come of it.
I create the blacksmith
    who fires up his forge
    and makes a weapon designed to kill.
I also create the destroyer—
    but no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged.
Any accuser who takes you to court
    will be dismissed as a liar.
This is what God’s servants can expect.
    I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best.”
        God’s Decree.

Romans 8 (The Message) 
So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

Yes, take heart and be brave!  Take courage and do not be afraid!