Same Day Promise

“And the LORD God formed man…and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Ge 2:7.

“And when Jesus cried out with a loud voice…He breathed His last breath.” Luke 23:46b.

The cycle of life…the first breath from God celebrated with our loved ones while the last breath from God we dedicate them back to Him.   The cycle of life hurts when both ends of the circle meet on earth.  Jesus fully understood this as He knew His life was coming to an end at only 33 years old.  Think about how young that is and how much living usually happens on the other side of it.  But Jesus knew that only so many breaths were assigned to Him on earth before His purpose was fulfilled.  And what a purpose that was…one that every believer on this earth can claim as their reality with their final breath.  But the relic that is our comfort is a little verse tucked the moment before Christ inhaled earth for the last time.  As Jesus was barely alive laboring to breathe no doubt, the criminal who deserved the cross whispered to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ Luke 23:43. And hanging beside the King of Kings the guilty criminal doomed to die heard the words of life instead.  “And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’” Those were the very words that allowed the criminal to bid farewell in peace, and the same words that comfort us to accept death on earth… the certainty of the ‘same day Promise.’

‘It is God’s breath that fills and sustains us.  We cannot run from it, nor do we have to work for it.  We simply have to receive it.  God fills us with life and love with every breath we take.’ Determined, Heather M Dixon, p. 191.    While we must wait on the majority of promises that God gives us, this beautiful promise is given the same day we breathe our last breath on earth.  The same day Promise is what allows us to picture wholeness for our loved ones the afternoon that sickness took them that morning.  The same day Promise is what allows us to embrace that where captivity held a family member on earth, they now are running free in Heaven.  It is the promise that a day left on earth is a blessing we have been assigned.  There is a beautiful statement attributed to Alice Morse Earle: ‘Yesterday is history.  Tomorrow is a mystery.  Today is a gift.  That’s why it is called the present.’ 

I am humbled that Jesus used His last few breaths to give us a promise so assuring and so comforting.  If we or our loved ones have closed their eyes to earth, the same day the opened their eyes to Jesus.  The number of our breaths were assigned at the beginning of our lives.  ‘Each breath holds a rare moment of blessing that repeats itself every time we are willing to acknowledge its divine benefactor.’ Determined, p. 192.

“You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” Psalm 139:16.