Passed

“I assure you: Anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)

            When someone tells you that a loved one “passed,” they usually mean that the person died.  Some folks just don’t like to use the word “die,” so they use the word “passed” as a euphemism.  So, in this sense passed means passing from this life to death and beyond.

            Notice the way Jesus used the word “passed.”  He used it differently, in conjunction with faith to mean passing from death to life.  He says that anyone who hears His word and believes the One who sent Him has eternal life.  He has passed from death to life.  That suggests that being in this life apart from God is death.  Not knowing the Lord in a personal, faith relationship is death.  But knowing Him by faith ushers us from death into life.  We have passed.

            Today, if you know the Lord, you need to celebrate your passing – to life!

Father, We thank You for bringing us out of death and into the life of promise.  We thank You for our passing.  Amen.