Eternal World

For fifteen years now, I have listened to moviegoers make fun of a film that I have never had the privilege of watching--Waterworld.  The movie has often been described as being overrated and was apparently considered a flop at the box office.  Still, the movie intrigued me and the other night I finally had the opportunity to watch it.  Apart from a few questionable themes, the movie was a fun watch.

If you have never seen the movie, the storyline is pretty simple.  The polar ice caps have melted and in effect have flooded the entire earth.  For the most part, everyone died, but there were a few who survived that learned to cope with their new habitat.  Most of the survivors grouped together to create new societies or gangs.  Those who didn't identify with a society were called "drifters."  One of these drifters was known as "The Mariner," played by Kevin Costner. 

The hope for the inhabitants of waterworld was dry land.  In fact, pure dirt was the greatest possession one could own because it could be used to plant a tree or grow food.  At one point, the Mariner asked one of the characters why she had so much hope in dry land.  Her paraphrased response was, "Because I know that I am not made for this world...I have feet, and I am supposed to walk.  I cannot walk on water."  When the woman said this, I could not help but be reminded of what Jesus Christ once prayed:

"I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (John 17:15,16). 

Ever since the Garden of Eden, sin has disrupted the purity of life.  It seems that when God created Adam and Eve, His desire was that they would live forever.  Once they disobeyed God, however, the Bible tells us that they died, which I believe was both a spiritual and physical death.  Even though the physical death came later, it still eventually took place.

God's plan for man is that we live eternally with Him.  It is easy to become comfortable in this temporary home, but the Bible tells us that we are "aliens and strangers" (1 Peter 2:11-12)  and that "our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20).  As the old song says, "We are just pilgrims passing through."  One day, God will restore the heavens and the earth (Revelation 21), and we will be able to be a part of the world that we were made for--the eternal and redeemed one.  Thanks to Jesus Christ, this has been made possible.