Send us some feedback!
| I lost two friends to death this year. While I’ve officiated at scores of funerals, this is the first year that a close friend has died. I guess I have been fortunate – each of my children suffered significant personal losses long before I did. Heretofore, I could only imagine the heart wrenching emptiness and the ache of such a loss. Both of these deaths came too early as a result of cancer. So add to the empty spot left in my heart the nagging thought that it was not fair. I know by experience that the death of someone close has a profound impact on people. Suddenly, questions regarding eternity and life after death take on urgent importance. I’ve noticed that in confrontation with death, people who live as if there is no heaven, God, or eternity abruptly express confidence in an afterlife. It seems to be a product of wishful thinking to ease their pain and postpone squarely facing the issue. My profession often offers solace in the form of platitudes – “He is not suffering anymore,” “She is in a better place,” etc. But wishful thinking is just a form of denial and avoidance, not real comfort. Genuine comfort has to be anchored in truth and reality. On the other hand, I have known well-meaning Christians who flippantly make light of death with the same clichés. Death is a serious consequence of living in a world that is not right. The Bible does not treat it so casually and neither should we. Death is called an enemy which is to be defeated. The good news is that Jesus defeated death when He suffered and died and rose from the dead! Jesus’ resurrection guarantees that physical death is not the end – there is something more. Yet death still looms over every living creature. My two friends did not want to die because they were going to a better place, even though they believed that with all their heart. They fought to live and they mourned the prospect of their own loss of being able to experience important moments with friends and family. There is something that God has woven into our souls that will always make every effort to live. But those efforts will all ultimately fail, and until there is a radical change in the order of the universe as we know it, we will all continue to struggle with and mourn our losses at death. In the mean time, my friends’ lives serve to inspire me to live as faithfully and fully as they did. And I am comforted by the promise of eternal life that they possess because of their faith in Jesus Christ. The end of their suffering and their superior location are not mere platitudes; they are anchored in the historical reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. |
|
by Dr. J. Patrick Curtis, Senior Pastor |
Send us some feedback!