Maquia & Eternal Life in Christ
** The following contains spoilers for Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms. **
People are obsessed with avoiding death.
Books, movies, and TV shows are rife with examples of people who’ve cheated death or are actively trying to achieve immortality, but so many of those people approach eternal life from a God-less worldview. When there is no eternity, what does eternal life mean? Endless suffering—emotional if not physical—endless loss, endless existence without purpose.
Maquia, from the anime movie of the same name, is an immortal being who’s been warned not to associate with humans as doing so only leads to heartache, but when Maquia is forced to flee her home, she finds an orphaned human baby and can’t bring herself to leave the child to die. As years pass and she raises the boy as her own, Maquia remains young and beautiful, but her son ages, has children of his own, and eventually passes away, all while Maquia watches, heartbroken over how time slowly steals her beloved child, and she has no hope of ever seeing him again.
How sorrowful must people be when they stand over a casket of a loved one without the knowledge they will be reunited with them one day? Even if we could escape death, what good is living forever if there’s nothing to live for?
Christians have the privilege of knowing we have eternal, purposeful, life in Jesus Christ. Revelation 22:3-5 (KJV) says, “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.”
At eternity of joy-filled service to God awaits all Christians, and yes, that service will include work, but imagine doing the thing you love most without getting tired, or frustrated, or running out of time, or lacking the resources to complete it. And imagine doing it among those you love most, all while being in the presence of an awesome, wonderful God Who knows and loves us like no one else can.
That is an eternity worth living for.
What are you most looking forward to in Eternity?
D. T. Powell is an award-winning fanfiction writer and author of fantasy short stories.To fill her writing day, she works on original stories, extensive fanfiction endeavors, editing friends’ work, and learning more about the craft of writing.