“Breathing” conjures thoughts of inhalation of pure, refreshing oxygen. But it should also remind us of exhalation-of getting rid of carbon dioxide-which would otherwise accumulate in our cells and poison us. So, breathing does two things: It increases the goodness of our lives by bringing us oxygen, and it also decreases the badness of life by eliminating carbon dioxide; both are important.
Now, switch gears to thinking about space exploration and governmental policy. Regardless of your political beliefs about how active the government should be in social affairs, much of what the government tries to accomplish through its programs is to decrease the pain and trouble of life. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are examples of this if you live in the US. But there is something to be said for attempting to increase the good in peoples’ lives besides trying to decrease the bad, just like breathing decreases the bad (exhaling carbon dioxide) but also increases the good (inhaling oxygen).
Space exploration is one of those ways of adding to the goodness of life. When good things are done to the glory of God, they become that much better and more worth doing. This reminds me of 1 Corinthians 15:58b: “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (NIV 1984). The really encouraging part of that passage is actually the 57 verses that precede it, which talk about Christ’s bodily resurrection from the dead being a foretaste of our eventual bodily resurrection at Jesus’ second coming to Earth.
New Testament scholar N.T. Wright ties verse 58 together with the preceding 57 by saying that what we do on Earth now “as long as we do it for the glory of God” will find its way into our awaiting resurrected life for eternity. Our work for God now will somehow manage to manifest itself in the new Heaven and new Earth. Whatever your work: teacher, parent, secretary, scientist, or astronaut, will have some sort of eternal “shelf life.” Even if you don’t know how God can use whatever you’re doing now, as long
as you do it in obedience to God, it will have an eternal impact.
This reminds me of astronaut Jerry Ross, who has been a personal mentor to me. Jerry is a committed Christian and set an unbroken record for the most missions of any astronaut – seven. He recounts a story of floating outside space shuttle Atlantis in his space suit on one of his early flights (most likely STS-37 to deploy to the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory). As he turned down his helmet lights during a rare work-free moment, he could see a plethora of blazing stars and felt a strong sense that he was doing exactly what God wanted him to do. What fun to know that deploying a robotic astrophysical observatory in Earth orbit could have a positive, eternal impact!
Maybe you’re between jobs or school right now, or you’re working a job you don’t enjoy just because you need an income. Well, breathe easier! See it as a carbon dioxide moment! Commit yourself and your situation to God and trust him to honor your work into eternity. All the ins and outs of life are part of the breath of God in us, causing all things to work together for our ultimate good.
