Events on Mars shows that faraway things can be significant

FOOD FOR THOUGHT by Howard Stone, Minister of Castletown & Community Free Church

Mars is about 40 million miles away but, last week, NASA successfully landed the Perseverance rover on the surface of the Red Planet.

It is an amazing achievement, a triumph of modern engineering. However, this feat has happened so far away and has been achieved by people who are unrelated to us, so it makes no practical difference to me. It won’t affect your life in the slightest.

You might think the same way about the events of the Bible. These all occurred thousands of miles away, involving people of an unrelated nation.In addition, they happened way back in history. But you’d be wrong.

The Bible is revealing God’s work in this world to bring salvation, to rescue mankind from its rebellion against our Maker and its destructive consequences. It is, therefore, relevant to every single person in the world, because we all need to be saved from our sin.

There must have been a huge cost in getting the rover on to Mars. American tax-payers have paid billions of dollars.

At the heart of God’s rescue plan is also an enormous cost – his own Son. The Father had to give up the Son he loved to a horrible execution on a Roman cross, as he suffered in the place of those who believe in Him.

But there is also the amazing achievement of having conquered death and risen – to live for ever. These events – so long ago, in another nation and so far away – transform the lives of those who believe.

How is your life affected by the success of Jesus’s mission?

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