As a child, I laughed at my father's complaints about the "new math" being taught in school. He didn't see a need to change the fundamentals since they worked just fine for him. In reality, it was nothing new, just a different way of presenting the fundamentals of math. However, the verses above have caused me to wonder about a "different" math since it is not new but definitely different than anything I had ever been taught. Taken out of context, the verses above imply that we should see Christians outliving sinners by years. Sadly, that is not the case but we see Christian lives snuffed out at an unseemly early age. Was the math wrong or was I missing something? Yep, you guessed it - I was missing something. God's math and my math were not the same.
Jesus enlightens us in John 10:9-11. A key phrase is "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." By having Christ in our life, we have abundant or an increased life not necessarily a longer life but a better life. I will try to explain - while Christians are still faced with the challenges of life, there is a difference in their outlook and disposition. While they may be going through some tough times, they know on whom they trust. Paul sums it up best in Romans 8:35-39:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul defines the higher math achieved by believing in Christ. As a believer, I am always invigorated to face the challenges of life knowing that the love of Jesus Christ is with me through it all. He has multiplied the peace and contentment within me that goes beyond any mathematical equation!
