Living With Hope

How are we any different than the world when it comes to death and dying?  

So many followers of Jesus still value this life over the eternal, immortal life offered by God in Christ.

"For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- for we walk by faith, not by sight-- we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."   2 Corinthians 5:1-8

As Christians we have been given this instruction and this promise

The Bible teaches

....that this life, this body is just a tent, a temporary domicile.  No matter how many rooms or furniture or fixtures we add, our tents are designed to be torn down and replaced with the permanent.  

The Bible teaches

....that we have waiting for us a new body without defect, where we will no longer experience pain or sorrow.

The Bible teaches

....that we groan and long to be clothed with our immortal bodies

The Bible teaches

....that remaining here is separation from our Lord and that we remain here sacrificially to bear fruit from love in the lives of those who God brings to us. 

Jesus tells us that we have our priorities reversed when we value this life more than eternal life with Him

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it.

Matthew 16:25

Our attitude is upside down when we fear death for ourselves and our loved ones rather than see it as graduation.  

Paul said to the church at Ephesus while he was on his way to Jerusalem and eventually to Rome where he will be executed: 

 "Why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus." 

Acts 21:13

Then he writes to Timothy, his beloved son in the faith, 

"As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me--the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of His return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to His appearing."

2 Timothy 4:6-8

  

Who can deny that this life carries with it both joy and pain?  I have known this pain personally with the deaths of my father and my brother and soon for my mother.   The pain of loss and even guilt of survivors, while profound, can distort the truth about death even for those who trust in Jesus. 

We corrupt our faith in Jesus when we value this life more than the life that is to come.  Worse, when we seek to hold on to our loved ones in this life though they may be suffering with bodies that are breaking down and barely useful to them, we are not walking by faith in the promise of the new body they will receive and the joy that they will know in the hands of our loving Father.  

We have a promise from God that we will be with Him for eternity.  He sent His Son Jesus to confirm that promise.  We have hope.  Our attitude toward death should not be the same as those in the world who have no hope.  We are graduating.  Many of our loved ones have graduated before us.  My father was the class of 1963.  My brother the class of 1993.  They are already experiencing the unspeakable joy of knowing the glory of God.  We may not know what class we will graduate with but we should celebrate those who have graduated before us who already know the love of the Father and the Lord Jesus up close and personal and look forward to joining them ourselves.  We walk by faith not by sight, not by death.