Robert Benson puts a different twist on things. “I think that the life cycle is all backwards,” he writes. “You should die first, get that out of the way, then live twenty years in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You go to college until you’re ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a little child, you play, you have no responsibilities, You become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating, and you finish off as a gleam in your parents’ eyes!”
While Benson speculates on how things might be if the life cycle were reversed, perhaps he should have taken his thought one step further and begun in eternity. Assuming he was a Christian:
–He would first have enjoyed the “crown of righteousness” to which Paul refers, only to come back to this earth later to “fight the good fight,” to “finish the race,” and to “keep the faith” (See 2 Timothy 4:7).
–He would first have been given the right to eat from the tree of life,” only to return to this earth later to engage in “overcoming” (See Revelation 2:7).
–He would first have received the “crown of life,” only to come back to this life to “persevere under trial” (See James 1:12).
While thinking about how things might be if the life cycle were reversed, the more realistic approach is to look forward, since it’s the way of Jesus. “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God,” He taught. Paul echoes the same thought. “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize” (Philippians 3:14).
I think I’ll stick to a forward progression–the way God designed it!
September/October 1999