The Breath of Life

Some things we believe we cannot live without, and we want them right away. Most of those are frivolous when compared to those things that are essential to life. Have you ever been deprived of air for a while? You want those next breaths, and you want them in a mighty big hurry.

Credit: Freeimages / Vincenzo Piazza

If something or someone isn't breathing, there's no point in sending a "Get Well Soon" card. Ain't nobody home. Having the breath of life is one way that our Creator keeps us alive, such as providing oxygen in our blood to supply all those cells inside us. Scientists experiment on cadavers to find ways to keep us functioning, but they are more like objects than people when they are bereft of breath. God also gave the symbiotic relationship with plants that use carbon dioxide we exhale and give us oxygen so we can continue to breathe.

It is a simple fact that everyone who has been or ever will be born will stop breathing and die. Those who have life in Jesus will one day be resurrected and have bodies that will never die.

The Greeks used the word pneuma to signify both breath and spirit. That’s not scientifically inaccurate, because most animals cannot survive for long without breath, and will “give up the ghost” if they stop breathing. First Aid students learn that of the ingredients needed for a body—food, water and oxygen—breathing is the most critical. Seconds count. Thankfully, we don’t have to think about breathing. The autonomic nervous system keeps the chest and diaphragm filling the lungs with air automatically, even in our sleep. The Pentateuch says the “life” of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11), but it’s clear from the creation that the “spirit” of the flesh is in the breath (pneuma). The first human body, wonderfully designed as it was, was just an object on the ground until God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7, KJV). This became true of the first woman as well.

To read the rest, take a deep breath, be thankful for it, and click on "What a Difference the Breath of Life Makes".