The average life span of a mouse is 2.3 years. Mouse UT2598, which lives at the University of Texas Health Science Center, has already lived 3 years and is still going strong. Its secret is a compound called rapamycin, which appears to slow the ageing process. If – and it is quite a big ‘if’ – the same compound could be used with equivalent results in human beings, then we could expect to live to the age of 142.
The desire to live longer is surely a good one. After all, life itself is a gift from God, our good Creator; and long life is a blessing from his hand. At the same time, we cannot live for ever in this world because we have rebelled against our maker: “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned … For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 5:12, 6:23, NIV). Death will only be overcome when sin is paid for – which it has been through the death of Jesus Christ. Even so, the new (eternal) life which God gives to those who believe in Jesus will ultimately be in a renewed, liberated creation rather than in this old, decaying one.
So, we can embrace and enjoy life, and all that it has to offer – and as much of it as we can have – because it is the good gift of a good God. At the same time, there’s more to real life than this life. We’ve been made for life with God, eternal life, in a brand new world where death is not even a possibility. We can live for ever, but we’ll have to move.