1 Corinthians 2:9-10 "But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard..."

"But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him'—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God" (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

Question:

I lost my beloved twin brother six months ago and I need to believe that all is well with him and that I'll be with him again and that God has great things in store for me, in this life and the one to come. I think about the life after this physical one a great deal these days. My father died before my brother did (brother died in a car wreck, 46 years old) and it has hit home to me how fragile life is and how quickly it can be snuffed out, and how much suffering and pain one can experience and endure. I have been absolutely devastated and my life has changed forever. I think of this verse and hope that it means what it truly says.

Comment:

I am very sorry for your loss, and I certainly understand the grief and suffering you must be experiencing. The human sense of absence and loss is an inevitable part of our mortal life experience. It's important to remember, however—even as we feel and move through the grief and pain—that in spiritual Truth life is eternal. It is not, in fact, fragile, and it cannot be snuffed out. Your brother and father are as spiritually alive today as they have always been, and will always be. Their spiritual life is no longer expressing through the physical bodies that were so familiar to you; but they continue to exist in the infinite and eternal spiritual plane of which we are all a part. The division between life and death is valid only within the limitations of our mortal experience.   This is what Paul is affirming in this passage from his first letter to the church in Corinth. Eyes and ears—even the physical organ we call the human heart—are limited aspects of our limited mortal experience. From our limited human perspective, we cannot begin to imagine the infinite dimensions of spiritual Truth. But "these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit"—that is, we are connected to the dimension of spiritual Truth through the Christ Presence of God that is the Spirit in each of us. In that spiritual dimension, there is no separation between "this world" and "the world to come." They are one and the same, and we move effortlessly from one to the other as our unique and individual spiritual purposes are revealed and expressed.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed