And I
heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now
among the people, and he will dwell with them. ‘He will wipe every tear from
their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain Rev 21:43,5
For to me, to live is Christ and to die
is gain. Phil 1:21
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
you who are dependent for each breath you take,
I am losing a dear friend to
cancer. We do not have many visits left before it will be our last here on
earth. It is always too soon to
say good-bye and I am forced to move over and make room for grief to wrestle
and wound me, again and again. Death ends a life here, for it was temporal from the first, but
does not end life eternal with our Savior Jesus. I want to provoke your thinking by sharing what I have been thinking
about.
An interesting aspect
of facing imminent death, for the Christian, is that it really snaps everything
else into perspective, without apology; and is coupled with a discernment which evaded the person previously.
Often they are able to release earthly things when they are confronted with
weeks or months to live.
Also, to face facts, we must
acknowledge the mortality rate is still 100%. All die, the question is ‘are you
ready?’ Even losing the life of a pet is extremely hard. Do you truly believe He has gone to prepare
a place for you where there is no death, tears, sickness, fear, sin,
bullying, hatred, war, disease, boredom, manipulation, cheating, gossip,
drunkenness, drugs, murder, rape, violence, revenge, selfishness, oppression….
or off key singing?
Do you believe all that
awaits you there? No more darkness, streets are golden, an unpolluted
atmosphere, and unbounded joy! All beyond our imagining. Reunions will be without the usual sin
we drag along. No divisions, no pride or shame, no belittling. We will not
wrestle any longer with our old sin nature. Now, my feet are dancing. No longer our cross but crowns to lay at
His feet. Banished will be the loneliness that led you into temptation, and you
will never be overlooked again or be the one not chosen, loss will not exist!
You can no longer be deceived, for the devil is thrown in the lake of fire
forever. Hallelujah to my King! All
this is so amazing, wonderful, and freeing, albeit, it is a poor runner up to Who awaits us when we step out of time and
breathe celestial air.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my
mother’s womb. I praise you
because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works
are wonderful, I know that full well. My
frame was not hidden from you when I was
made in the secret place, when I was woven
together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes
saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one
of them came to be. Psalm 139:13-16
Hear what God is saying… He
numbers our days before we take our first breath. Do you believe this? When
someone dies young, do we believe
God numbered their days? And at any age, when a life threatening disease comes,
we wear ourselves out trying to defeat it. Understandable, but a bit confusing.
On one hand we say we want to go to heaven, but on the other hand we do all in
our power to scramble away from death! We want to go to heaven, just NOT now.
Woody Allen is known for
this comment: “I'm not afraid of death ; I just don't want to be there when it happens.”
If death knocks on our door this week, consider this: If He is who He says He is and heaven is what He says, Should we not celebrate, even throw a party and rejoice,
that we are going ‘home’? Just a thought.
We were created to enjoy God forever! But because of man’s sin we die.
Only because of Jesus sacrifice can we live with Him forever. Do we need to
search our hearts to see if we are too much in love with the world and with all the
stuff we have gathered? Enjoy your stuff, but do not let it own you. You have
one Master, even Christ. From heaven’s perspective all that we grasp here, is temporal.
I love Jesus words in John 14:21
In My Father’s
house are many dwelling places; if
it were not so, I would have told you;
for I go to prepare a place for you. Paul believed these truths, hear his words in
Phil 1:21
For to me, to
live is Christ and to die is gain.
Consider this: We grieve over loss of our
loved ones, but if Jesus ask the person who has entered heaven if he would like
to return to life here. He would fall to his knees and beg, “Please don’t make me
leave You, LORD.” Those who go before us are healed, pain-free, unashamed, happy
and at rest, giddy with joy of Him. He is abundantly satisfying.
“You can grieve
for me the week before I die, if I’m scared and hurting, but when I gasp that
last fleeting breath and my immortal soul flees to heaven, I’m going to be
jumping over fire hydrants down the golden streets, and my biggest concern, if
I have any, will be my wife back here grieving. When I die, I will be
identified with Christ’s exaltation. But right now, I’m identified with His
affliction.” R.C.S
AMEN!
On this
mountain He will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all
peoples,
the sheet that
covers all nations;
He will
swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign
Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
He will remove
His people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has
spoken.
In that day
they will say,
“Surely this
is our God;
we trusted in Him, and He saved us.
This is the
Lord, we trusted in Him;
let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” Isaiah 25:7-9
The last enemy that will be abolished is death. I Corinthians
15:26
My heavenly
Bridegroom, You who know how easily I am distracted, draw me nearer until I
want only You, want only Your will, want to please You and look to You, to meet
my every need. Change me for Your glory. In Jesus I pray, az
We are immortal until our
time on earth is done…
Enjoy this moment, it’s all
you have,
Az May
4,2012
