Never fear dying, beloved. Dying is the last, but the least matter that a Christian has to be anxious about. Fear living - that is a hard battle to fight, a stern discipline to endure, a rough voyage to undergo. - Charles Spurgeon
Death can be a rather peculiar event. It can bring up a whole array of emotions and thoughts. It can cause all kinds of feelings to well up deep within. It can cause our thoughts to run wild and our hearts to beat out of our chests.
Death can invoke conflicting struggles within us. It can seem so final and yet new. It can be the absolute end of one thing and yet an everlasting beginning of something else. It can be full of overwhelming pain and yet still have a sense of joy.
The death of something or someone can cause us to contemplate our own lives. We can start to evaluate how we are living and what our own legacy will be. We may mourn the end of this chapter or the finality of how our story is playing out. We may even look beyond ourselves to the lives of others around us comparing our lives and how they are living or maybe the lack of living that is happening.
Throughout this life, we can have a lot of “what if” or “what could have been”
thoughts that we occasionally let roam free within our hearts and minds. We may even allow ourselves to dream of the possibility of still to come, but ….
What do we do when a part of all those what if, could have been, or still to come… dies? Do the possibilities die too?!?!
I’ve pondered these thoughts and prayed over them for the last few weeks. It is always interesting to me how so many people believe they know what you should feel or not feel or what you should do or not do in certain circumstances, and apparently, death is one of those moments in life too.
As I type out these words that have run through my thoughts, I realize they may seem discouraging and a little sad, but they’re not meant to be. Regardless of how hard we hold onto our lives and others; we are always experiencing a continual state of renewal. Death is occurring all around us every day.
Throughout this life, chapters will end, and new ones begin. (Some of us may even have the privilege of living a life that is so wonderful that one book cannot contain all the things we will experience and accomplish so our lives will require volumes of books to contain the twists and turns.) Yet, there will come a day when our Author will place the final period.
But in the midst of all this jumbled mess of thoughts, this is what I want to share more than all the others, death will come and on that day you will not get to pick your eternity. The life you lived and the decisions you made will be done and left behind for those who knew you or knew of you. It won’t matter how much you acquired, or how many initials and titles surround your name. It won’t matter how big your funeral is or how good of a person you have been.
On this day, all that matters is what you did with Jesus!! I’m not asking if you believed in Jesus and I’m not asking if you went to a church. I’m not asking if you tithed or went under the water somewhere. I’m asking as direct and pointedly as I know how, “Have you given all of your life, heart, soul, mind, and strength to Jesus Christ? Have you asked Him to forgive you of your sins and have you turned from your sinful way of life? Have you surrendered all of yourself to Him? Is Jesus the Lord of your life, meaning He is first above all else?”
This is all that matters! This is what the Lord has given me in my prayer time. Whether it is the death of a dream or of someone close we can have peace in the midst of it all if Jesus is our all-in-all. When we live by His plan, in His purpose, even in our pain we can have peace.
When death comes, oh what peace, when we have the reassurance of a better eternity to come and what assurance we can have of a future reunion when we share and live this before others.
What hope have you left for those whose stories are still going?
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” {1 Corinthians 15:55}
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."{Rom 10:9-10 KJV}
"And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;" {Heb 5:9 KJV}
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." {Heb 12:2 KJV}
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