“Do not let your heart be troubled; [a]believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 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. 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:1-3
I grew up knowing death as long as I can remember. I lost my mother when I was four years old. I have vivid memories of my mother, including her illness that eventually took her life. My childhood was impacted by my mother’s absence. At a young age I had to come to terms with life and death. As I grew up I lost several relatives, including my sister who was 17 at the time of her death. I know death all too well.
As a pastor there are times I am called to comfort those that have lost a loved one, and it is not an easy thing to do. It is especially difficult in those moments that you prayed, had faith and hope for a loved one’s healing, only to see them eventually lose their battle to death. Death is never easy because it always seems a life ended too soon. We are left with the question “Why God Why?”
As I pastor people in times of a loved one’s death that question comes up. It is difficult to answer. At times, there is no answer nor explanation given by God. Just recently I learned of someone’s death that we believed would be healed of cancer. We knew God would heal and it was His will to heal. At one point we were celebrating the news that the cancer was gone, only to learn later that it had come back spreading throughout the body. Still you hope in miracles and you know God is able and willing to heal. However, when the healing does not come, it is easy to question our faith. Did we believe hard enough? Did we doubt God? Was it God’s will to heal? Why did this person die?
As I pondered these questions the Holy Spirit reminded me of our faith in Jesus Christ. The foundation of our faith is that one day we will see Jesus face to face. That faith in Jesus exceeds all other acts of faith. Salvation is the greatest miracle because a person that is saved is someone who was once dead and now is alive in Christ for all eternity. Those that have put their faith in Jesus Christ have eternal life. Death cannot hold them; when they are absent from the body, they are present with the Lord. That is our faith. So when a loved one dies in the Lord, they are with Him. They experience the evidence of their faith.
Jesus told the disciples that He was going away and would prepare a place for them, for all of us. He promised to come again but His ultimate promise was that He would receive us and we would be where He is.
We cannot fully comprehend eternity because we live in such a temporal world and are governed by time and space. We experience life, sickness, disease, tragedies, and eventually death in this world. Yet in heaven there is none of this and they are not governed by time and space. So we have to rejoice when a loved one in Christ dies because they get to be where He is and stay. They have received the full promise of God.
Still this may not bring us great comfort since we will no longer see our loved one. We wonder “when will we meet again?” So we mourn for our loved ones, we mourn with those that are mourning. Soon our mourning will turn to joy. We will meet again.
If you are reading this and you are not sure if you are going to spend eternity with Jesus then you can ask Jesus to come into your heart. The bible says that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:9). Jesus died and rose again so that we could be reconciled with the Father and have eternal life. It is available to all. You don’t have to wonder where you will spend eternity once your life is surrendered to Jesus Christ. He has gone and is preparing a place for us. He will come again. For those of us still left on this earth, let us continue to occupy until Jesus’ returns. That is what our faith is all about, seeing Jesus face to face and living with Him for all of eternity. In the meantime let us keep healing the sick, raising the dead, expanding the Kingdom of God on the earth – be SALT and LIGHT.
For this [s]perishable must put on [t]the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this [u]perishable will have put on [v]the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15: 53-57
Reflections 