LIFE INSURANCE FOR LIVING

Is your life insurance up to date?  What about your auto and your home insurance?

No, I am not an insurance salesman.  But as I was working on a sermon from John 11 this morning, it struck me, the way many people live their lives may be similar to what we would LIKE to do with insurance or retirement.

Lazarus, friend of Jesus and brother to Martha and Mary, had died.  Martha meets Jesus on his way to them, and says, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died."  Jesus then makes a statement about himself.

Jesus said in John 11:25-27, Jesus said to Martha, sister of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”  (NIV, www.biblegateway.com)

Why did Jesus say it as he did?  Did he not have it backward?  He said, "I am the resurrection and the life" rather than "I am the life and the resurrection."  Now life could mean eternal life.  But could he also mean he is not only for overcoming death, but he is for this life as well?

Many people want people for death, but not for life.  I heard of a person recently, not a believer, make the statement, "I am not ready yet," meaning he was not ready to accept Jesus as his Savior and Master.  The problem is, when is the time?  And he apparently had made this statement before when asked about becoming a Christian.  But when one is getting older, and this person is, one's days on this earth are short.  It is important to know that NOW is the time for salvation.

Life insurance--wouldn't it be great if I could wait until the day before I died, and then pay my premium, and my family would receive the total amount?  Or the day before the wreck of the car or the fire at my home?  But that's not the way it works, is it?

Premiums are paid over time--sometimes over a lifetime, even a long lifetime, but when the death or the wreck or the fire occurs, then the payment from the company comes.  If I knew when the death or the wreck or the fire would happen, then the other way would work, but NONE of us knows those things beforehand.

Same with physical death--will I die at age 61 (my age now), or 81, or 101?  Don't really know--do you?

So I pay my premiums now.  And I prepare now for that final earthly event.  Jesus is the resurrection for us when death comes.  He is eternal life for us.  But living for him now is like the premium I pay for insurance.  AND it provides me with a much more secure feeling, a much more secure life, and a valuable, growing life now, while here on this earth.

Is your life insurance paid up?  Have you paid the premiums up to date?  What about your life now?  Is Jesus an important part--not just for death, but for life as well?

Now is the time to make that belief in Jesus.  NOW!