Part of the Book of Life
Book of life, odd and cryptic, what is it really? How do we get to be written into this book? Why do we need to be bothered by it and why should we open one book in order to maintain our inheritance and assurance that our names would be written in it?
When you read the Bible, we would often see this long block of text, specifically names. This is to show that they could figure out or ensure that one person, often times the main character of the book, came from the line or ancestry of someone. During my time, this would often be part of the first night of “Simbang Gabi” where they read all these names and people would fall asleep in the middle of it. Funny enough, when you think about it, how many times were these verses quoted? That goes to show that in God’s world or in this world, we often would forget people, not remember names, good acts unseen, symbols that we revere become meaningless, and sermons become a blurry message.
In the Bible, we would often see the verse about the “Lamb’s Book of Life”. It can be cryptic, as we do not really know what “book of life” means. There are two quotes about “book of generations” and only the New Testament mentions of the “book of life”, so what the heck is it? How do you know that we are part of the book of life?
Though our lives cannot be as glorified as the people in the Bible, God still has given us a way in order to move towards a future that our names would be written in this book that if we believe in Him and we offer ourselves and our work in the service and glory of the Most High, then our names would be written in a book that He records. In a similar fashion, we may not remember all of the things written in scripture or the short periods that we become illuminated by God’s word, but if we choose to understand the essence and fill our souls daily with its substance, then it would never be forgotten.
We have been redeemed through Christ’s blood, and through that blood we gain reconciliation and the call to be part of God/Christ’s body. Considering who God is, and what He has done and continues to do for this world. To be part of the marriage of the lamb with this world, so that we can all be called His and make worthy the sacrifice done by Christ. Through the work that we do and the truth that we uphold, wouldn’t that be enough for God to remember us and ensure that we are part of the ancestry and generation that is of Christ?
On the other side, as time progresses, we may regress into not remembering the life that was given to us by Christ. We can even remember scripture, but if the idea and essence is not correct to a certain degree, then meaning can suddenly diverge into a life of its own. While this sounds fine, it can turn into something bad because we can forget that this life came from that true vine; making us subject to be pruned.