One of the greatest things about being a Christian is the ever-present conviction that life is eternal. And not just some vague idea of what the afterlife will be, but specifics – there will be worship, work, play, family and feasts – many of the things we enjoy already, but without any sin. Randy Alcorn’s book “Heaven” gave me a fabulous perspective on what it will be like, and I recommend it to everyone. I like it so much I’ve given away 8 copies as gifts this year. But in the meantime, here we are. Bogged down in the muck and mire, fighting for righteousness and pursuing holiness in our lives. The prayer of the father who asked for healing for his son, “Lord I believe! Help my unbelief!” is much like mine. “Lord I love you! Help me love you more!”
I attended the funeral of a young man yesterday – a young man who had struggled with drugs for a long time, and last spring found new peace and life in Jesus Christ. He soaked in the Word, life-giving and life-changing. He prayed, he read books, he spent time with more mature believers. He was being transformed. And then… the moment of choice came. One of many moments. On other occasions he managed to say no to the chance to take drugs. This time he didn’t. And so this young man, husband and father, was buried yesterday. What battles he must have fought! He loved his family. Their grief is real and hurtful to see, even though they grieve as ones who still have hope. What struck me about this is that here is a young man who was getting his life back together; clean of drugs after rehab, seeking spiritual help that would allow him to maintain it, and really, how is he different from any other Christian? But the daily battles of a million and one sins out there in the world that one and all are guilty of to some degree. Sin is death. Spiritual death and oftentimes physical death. His battle was more dramatically staged, but the difference is in degree, not in kind. And as the Pastor Keith Collins said at the funeral, he may have lost this final battle, but the war had long since been won. As Christians, we want to celebrate a victorious life because that best glorifies God. He is entitled to our service and love. But our service and love, our goodness, isn’t the ticket in. Hebrews 12:4 says “You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” We’re called to resist sin, but nowhere does it say that the fight against sin is what gets us to heaven.
Today a church member’s wife died suddenly. She was in decent enough health. She slipped while doing the dishes, hit her head and died. She was not a church member. I don’t know her, and I have no knowledge of her spiritual state. I’m praying for her family. I guess what strikes me about both these events, along with the thousand or so who died in Katrina, is the apparent untimeliness about them. And yet it’s all in God’s time. We just can’t see the calendar, so we’re the ones taken by surprise. Life is eternal, for everybody. How you spend that eternity is decided by grace, through faith. Don’t focus so intently on the perhaps 80 years you spend here, when there are literally thousands more years in your lifespan.
Be Ready: A checklist to keep during troubled times..
