 |
|
|
« October 08, 2006 - October 14, 2006 |
Main
| October 22, 2006 - October 28, 2006 »
"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes"-Ben Franklin
This is kind of a morbid thought, but a true statement. If you know that death is inevitable, shouldn't you prepare for your eternal life? Read 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10, this is evidence that your earthly body is temporary and God offers you an eternal home that will blow your mind! Also read James 4:14, it states that earthly life is like a vapor/mist and vanishes, but eternity is infinite!
Think about the fact that your eternal destination was so important to God that He sent his son to die for you so that your eternity will be spent in Heaven. You are that important to God! But remember that He gave you free will and you must choose to accept Christ and pursue a personal relationship with Him.
I hope that you will be able to think of death and eternity with God, keep focused on what you are in love with more.......God or this temporary world and existence?
"Do you know the first thing about death? Do you have one clue regarding death's dark mysteries?" (Job 38:17 MSG)
What happens when we die?
The first time I encountered this question was when I was only 4 years old and my grandfather died. The adults all told me that he had died, that he had passed on, that he was in heaven. But that meant little to my four-year-old mind. "What happens when you die?" I wondered. I'm grown now, an adult, and while I've found the answer to a lot of questions I had when I was four, I still don't have a really good answer for this one. What happens when we die?
I think the best answer I can have for that question in this: We are not meant to know. We are only supposed to know that we spend eternity with God if we live our lives for Him, getting to know Him and following Him every day, and that we will spend an eternity without God if we spent our lives without Him. The Bible tells us that, and we only need to know that. As for the specifics....I don't know. I really don't think it's for us to know while we're here, because God doesn't want us to choose Him out of our expectation or fear of the consequences. He doesn't want us to say, "God, I love You, because if I don't I'll get in trouble," or "I pick You, God, because heaven looks better than hell." God wants us to choose Him for the sake of choosing Him, to choose Him because we want to. While the consequences are presented to us in scripture, they shouldn't be our motivation for deciding. God's love, mercy, grace, and kindness should be plenty to help us decide that. If we live knowing those things about God, we can live without fear of the day that death will come for us, and we don't have to worry about what will happen to us when we die.
"Do you know the first thing about death? Do you have one clue regarding death's dark mysteries?" (Job 38:17 MSG)
What happens when we die?
The first time I encountered this question was when I was only 4 years old and my grandfather died. The adults all told me that he had died, that he had passed on, that he was in heaven. But that meant little to my four-year-old mind. "What happens when you die?" I wondered. I'm grown now, an adult, and while I've found the answer to a lot of questions I had when I was four, I still don't have a really good answer for this one. What happens when we die?
I think the best answer I can have for that question in this: We are not meant to know. We are only supposed to know that we spend eternity with God if we live our lives for Him, getting to know Him and following Him every day, and that we will spend an eternity without God if we spent our lives without Him. The Bible tells us that, and we only need to know that. As for the specifics....I don't know. I really don't think it's for us to know while we're here, because God doesn't want us to choose Him out of our expectation or fear of the consequences. He doesn't want us to say, "God, I love You, because if I don't I'll get in trouble," or "I pick You, God, because heaven looks better than hell." God wants us to choose Him for the sake of choosing Him, to choose Him because we want to. While the consequences are presented to us in scripture, they shouldn't be our motivation for deciding. God's love, mercy, grace, and kindness should be plenty to help us decide that. If we live knowing those things about God, we can live without fear of the day that death will come for us, and we don't have to worry about what will happen to us when we die.
What happens when I die?
A lot of people really wonder about what will happen to them after they die. Depending on their religious upbringing, they may have one of a great variety of ideas. Christians even have varying ideas about the details of what happens at the end of our physical life journey. Many times we even try to "sell" our beliefs to non-Christians by making promises based on what will happen after you die. "If you will only confess... you will go to heaven." And for many, we have started our initial steps of faith based on these promises. And while these promises may be true (as I believe); I think they can miss the real point.
I am not going to try and convince you that my beliefs on what will happen after you die is the correct one and that you should believe what I believe. But I can tell you that your faith should (and even must) make a difference in how you live your life here on this earth in the days you are now living! These days are most important, as they impact your life and the lives of all others around you, and they most certainly prepare you for what lies before us after we pass from this life on earth into any new life after death.
I live now placing my hope and faith in my God, whose presence I feel and whose works I see as I live out my life. And I look forward to the day when I will finally discover the life that lies ahead. For in passing from this life into the next, I know that it holds an even closer connection to my God, as the weight of sin in this earthly body of mine shall be lifted from me. Thanks be to my God.
2 Corinthians 5:8 "We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord." (NIV)
I can remember time when I was about 9 or 10 years old, I woke up terrified. I was scared of dying, and I was scared not knowing what was going to happen when I died. I remember my mother holding me and comforting me. I did not want to be buried and left alone. My mother told me that although my body would be buried, my soul would be in heaven. I really had no concept then of what she was talking about. The talk must have calmed me, because I really never gave it a thought again until a few years ago. I guess getting older makes you more aware of your mortality. Prior to entering into a relationship with Jesus, I really never gave it a thought; out of sight, out of mind. Then the 9/11 tragedy occurred and it got me thinking, "if I die today, what will happen to me and where will I go?" I am confident of where I will be going, but I still have the question of "what will happen when I die?" I have heard stories of white lights, of meeting angels, and of a peace that is unknown to us. I struggle with what will happen to me but I equate it to going on a trip to a known destination, but unaware of the route I am going to travel to get there. I have never had to experience the thought of facing death, and I do not know how I would react if I got news telling me that I was facing death, but I find comfort in 2 Corinthians 5:8, knowing that to be absent from my earthly body means that I am in the presence of the Lord.
What happens when I die?
Well I can tell you from experience what happens. O.K. I'm just kidding. I don't know anyone who can tell me what happens when a person dies. If I did that might be a little weird.
In John 6 Jesus is telling those around Him that He is the Bread of Life and if we partake in Him we will experience eternal life. (Read John 6:53-59) Jesus says if we believe in Him and follow Him with our lives we will have eternal life. That doesn't mean that I will live forever on this earth but that when I die I will be with the Lord in His Kingdom. I can't tell you where His Kingdom is but I know He has one and I know that He has promised to take me there once I die but only if I am a follower of His.
If I am saying that you have to follow Jesus to enter His Kingdom and I am, then that brings into question how we live our lives while we are alive. Jesus said He was the "Way, the Truth and the Life" and that no one came to the Father (the Kingdom) except through Him (John 14:6). If that is the case shouldn't you and I be spending more time asking the question about how we live our lives? I know I often get caught up on the end goal (death) and I forget about what happens today. Matthew 6:34 says not to "worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. For each day has enough trouble of its own." I don't know about you but I can find a lot of truth in that verse.
Let's stop worrying about what will happen when we die and focus on how we are living our lives right now. Don't worry we are all going to die one day; there is nothing you can do about that. But what you can do something about is how you are living your life right now.
|
|
|
