“ . . . one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life.” (Hebrews 7:16)
So what makes a life "indestructible?" The author of Hebrews was talking about Jesus, Who certainly lived out that definition . . . being alive, being dead, being alive again . . . that’s indestructible! Jesus-followers live the same progression except the "being alive again" isn’t visible to people left behind. Heaven is where we’ll see the fulfillment of the "indestructible life." Until then, all bets are off, at least on the outside. No one can take away one’s faith, but sin can destroy the life of a Jesus-follower quicker than Aaron Rodgers can release a 7-yard pass. Look at the aftermath of the Ashley Madison hack. A few minutes of curiosity about a website and what might be found there and boom! Career over. Marriage wrecked. Kids humiliated.
I used to think faith was at the core of the indestructible life but I’m not so sure anymore. Most people understand faith to be something you have. Something you develop. Something you grow. And to an extent, that’s true. But the problem is all those verbs depend on you . . . on the performance of Jesus-followers who are notoriously weak at performing well at anything for very long.
The truth is that faith comes from God. It starts with Him and comes from Him.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8)
So, if faith comes from God, how do I get more of it? And how do I get it when I need it . . . in the moment of temptation?
The key is who you are and your faith in who you are. When you and I accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord in an authentic way, we were born again (John 3:3). Born into a new life and a new identity. From that moment, our spiritual lives became indestructible from God’s eternal perspective. The Kingdom of God became visible to us. We’re invited to live the rest of our lives with Him, both physically and spiritually. But we have to choose this two-dimensional life. It’s not obvious, especially to those who don’t know Jesus. And it’s easy for those who do to forget . . . to get so into the physical world that we forget the spiritual. We forget who we are in Him and before we know it, we’ve blown up our lives with the same sins and failures as everyone else.
The Holy Spirit lives in every Jesus-follower. One of the things He does is warn us when we’re making Godless decisions that lead us away from intimacy with the Father. But we have to be attentive . . . He rarely speaks to us in a crowd or over the noise of a hurried life. His purpose is to draw us into that sweet place of peace where our physical and spiritual lives come together. Where the indestructible life catches up with the anxious, driven, restless, dangerous soul.
Question: Which life are you living today? The indestructible life in Christ or the driven, faithless, dangerous life of the physical world?
