What lasts forever? I
know, you’ve heard it before, “back in my day…” everything ran better and
lasted longer. Air conditioners, water
heaters, and dishwashers all seemed to at least become teenagers (that’s 13
years old to you and me). These days, I can’t even have my morning shave last
till noon! And, isn’t it funny how
warranties last exactly one day short of when most appliances break down? Someone said they saw a report where large
companies spend thousands of dollars to research exactly how long their product
will last and then set the warranty just short of the mark. 
If you think about it, there’s nothing that really
lasts. Other than Craftsman Tools, there
really isn’t a lifetime warranty on much.
Even Sears is in decay! Every
living thing is in a process of slow decay.
Take Niagara Falls. If you study
the early photographs of this wonder, and compare them to the present, you will
be amazed. The falls are slowly
regressing, as the water causes the decay of the solid rock.
The same phenomenon is at work in the Grand Canyon. The very fact that the canyon exists at all
is the result of the breakdown of the riverbed by the continual movement of the
Colorado River. Mother nature does not
offer any guarantees that will secure confidence in an unchanging landscape. I suppose, life is like one of those giant
rainbow suckers you get at the fair, it does last a long time, but eventually,
it erodes away to an area around our hips!
Is there anything that really lasts?
What about Jesus?
Does He come with a warranty? How
long will He last? Is there any decay in
his Words? I have visited the Holy Land
many times. I have seen amazing
artifacts of the people who lived the words in the Bible. I have walked in the
cities and locations where Israel’s Prophets and Kings have lived and
walked. I have stepped over a threshold
where most probably Jesus stepped. In
all these locations, there is a common thread of decay, leaving only limited
archaeological digs – a wall, a well.
We are not even sure exactly where the tomb of the crucified
Nazarene is located, or if it’s still intact.
Many of the Holy sites where purposely destroyed by other conquering
nations. So, in a world of decay, of
limited warranty due to breakdown, do we still know Jesus? There is one fact, one historical event that
seems to be immune to decay. There is
one person who does come with an eternal warranty. It is Jesus.
The only reason we even know who Jesus was, and is, are the
facts of His death and resurrection!
Every historic figure who gained notoriety for a world changing
presence, teaching, or discovery, has faded through the slow decay of
time.
So, the next time you are around a conversation where the “fact”
of Jesus as God’s Son, is questioned, or did He really die and rise, or is He
really the Savior of the world, you have an answer. The most powerful proof is His Church and
those who He fills with His Spirit to be His hands, His feet, His love! Easter is the substance behind the eternal
warranty. Easter remains, while all else
erodes and decays. How else can you
explain the longevity, the Love, the lingering presence of His Spirit?
If you are to have confidence in anything, any product, any
person, it makes sense that our confidence must be placed in the only One who’s
presence actually lasts. When you
worship on Easter, you are acting on the personal guarantee of God. If it were not so, there would be no Easter
and no church for you to attend. There
would be no Christian experience at all.
There would be nothing. Just a
story about a seemingly kind man who attracted some attention in the first
century C.E. You would not even know his
name. But you do, don’t you? His name is Jesus, and you know Him because
He lasts!
