One Last Breath

One last breath.
Everyone has one.
That final exhalation that marks the demise of our physical form.
The moment that often defines the historical impact of an individuals’ entire life.
How many deathbed quotes have you heard or read about? It seems as though every historically famous figure has been documented as having some profound last words that usually define their entire life. This leads me to think that I’ll have to come up with something really cool to say for myself, only because I’m secretly worried that the only comment I’ll have is something about a water stain on a ceiling tile or something.
The thing is; we cannot rewrite our personal history with one sentence. Our last words will not redefine our lives in the eyes of those who know us. We cannot undo all of our mistakes at the end. We leave what we leave.
There are no “do overs”.
And yet we have hope.
When we give ourselves to God we do not merely give what we are, but also what we were, and what we can be. Each of these is influenced by who or what we give them to.
Christ is the Lord of everything, including our past. The influence of our past has a much different impact on our present, and our future, when we allow it to be seen in the light of His forgiveness.
My last breath will know His love, regardless of the words carried upon it.
But that’s just me.
My last breath will have no eternal impact for anyone else.

The last breath of Christ was the final mortal exhalation of divine breath on this earth.
In that one agonized cry He gave the words, “It is finished.”
And while it may not have been loudly spoken, it was very clearly heard.
Those three words were the clarion call of Heaven, and the death knell of Satan!
His last words were the beginning of my life, and what made me complete.
The curtain was torn! The door was opened!
His last words were just the beginning for you and me.
“It is finished!” John 19:30
These words indicate the end of a process.
It means Christ knew when He had suffered enough.
He was saying that the process was now, in this very moment, complete! Somehow, by means completely beyond any human capability to understand, God had a divine equation by which He determined what amount of suffering would be enough to save us. Not only did He know, but it was all determined by Him. There was a point that He would not go beyond, because only He was the one to determine the process by which we would be redeemed. God determined the end point because Satan could not be allowed to have the last word in the process. Satan could not be allowed to be in any semblance of control.
Christ had a reason for living and dying when, where and how He did it. It is imperative for us to understand that He did it by His own choice. His only motivation was His love for us, not any threat of Satan nor any human claim of independence. Every single aspect of my salvation is provided by Christ because He chose to give it.
We have always underestimated the willingness of God to sacrifice for us, and just as surely underestimated our need to sacrifice for Him.
“Into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Luke 23:46
Satan could only look over his shoulder in shock and fear in his new found understanding that he had not taken Christ’s life after all. Christ gave it up willingly in His own time.
Satan never understood the rules. His failure was already determined.
Satan has always been completely aware that we are not worthy of God’s attention, but he was always just as unaware of the lengths God would go to make up for our lack. It was for exactly this reason that God determined the appropriate method to give us the qualities necessary to make us worthy. There was nothing we could do to earn it, and nothing Satan could do to keep it from us.

Nothing is ever free. Someone always pays a price.

And so Easter begins with Christ’s last breath,
which becomes my first breath of heaven…
©2011 Dan Bode