Tuesday (5/1/2018)

Thought for the Day:

In my area it’s been warm, dry and, windy over the last couple of days.  There was a big grass fire nearby yesterday that nine local fire departments and the DNR battled.  It’s amazing how quickly dozens of acres of grass and woodlands can be burned up.  Last report said that 80 acres and one house was destroyed.  One minute it was fine and a moment later, it was gone. 

It is the same way with our lives.  One minute we seem to have our whole life ahead of us, and in what seems like a blink of the eye, our health and vitality are gone and we are knocking on death’s door.  Let’s face it, there is no guarantee that you’ll last to a ripe old age before you die.  Our lives are transitory—comparatively short, and quickly come to an end.  The bible compares us to grass

“All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”     Isaiah 40:6b-8 ESV

As a retired pastor, I’ve performed dozens of funeral services for both church members and for those with no church affiliation (but the family wanted some sort of service for their loved one).  As hard as death is, I found that the grieving process was substantially easier on those who had a Christian faith.

For a non-believing person, death is final.  It is a totally irrevocable separation between us and our deceased loved one.  But for a person of the Christian faith, death is just a transition from this mortal life to life eternal in the presence of God.  Christians don’t have all the details, but we believe that death isn’t the end and our separation isn’t final.  That knowledge tempers our grief.  It helps make it bearable.  It gives us hope.

I’m currently reading “Everlasting Life” by David D. Swanson.  Swanson proposes that the reason why death is so difficult for us to handle (especially untimely or sudden deaths) is that we inherently know something is wrong.  He says that when faced with death, “Our hearts cry out, ‘This can’t be right.  This cannot be what the living, loving God intended my life to be!’”  Swanson is correct.  This isn’t how God created the world to be.   God created the world and it was “good;” but death later entered this world through our own fault.

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned” Romans 5:12 NIV

So when we see a helpless child die, a young mother suffer, a man cut down in his prime, or loved ones grieving for those who are gone—whenever we see death, it is wrong and not the way it is supposed to be.

And yet God did not leave us to face the consequences of our actions without some hope.  He gave us a means to overcome death until He finally destroys it for all time.  As believers, while we will still face physical death, there is hope because God has promised that this death isn’t final. There is a resurrection of the dead and life eternal. 1 Corinthians 15 and many others passages affirm this truth.

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep (dead), that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” 1Thessalonians 4:13 ESV

That hope comes through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As a Christian and retired pastor, I make no apology for what I believe.  I merely share what is on my heart and what I have come to believe as the truth, and what makes sense to me.  The subject of human suffering (including death, dying, long-term illnesses, and sudden deaths) is something that cannot be covered easily or quickly (so my short words here could never explain everything).  My prayer for all those who are grieving is that you might find some comfort and solace in the arms of the Almighty.