Destination Living
I remember simpler days when birthdays, bachelor parties, and weddings were all celebrated somewhat close to home. The place where you knew everyone, and everyone knew you. Now often I hear of the next generation seeking out destinations to celebrate everything – birthdays in Las Vegas, bachelor parties in Nashville, weddings on the beach in Cozumel. While I’m not really into pursuing destinations as a means of making lifetime memories, I do believe we are to live our lives with a destination in mind. This is a destination that involves leaving this life for the next. As we live each day, often experiencing trials and suffering, it is the next life we are to have in view. Heaven is to be the destination we long for.
I’ve heard it said that there is only one thing that 100% of us will experience in this life. That one thing is death. We all know this is true. None of us can live in our present body on this planet earth forever. None of us, as we are in this life, are immortal. Even though we all know that death is inevitable, it is the last thing we want to face – the last thing we want to talk about – the one thing we will do everything we can to distract ourselves from. The reality is that each of us, from birth, experiences our clocks winding down and we have no control over how long we have until our time runs out.
Richard John Neuhaus says in his opening sentence of his, As I Lay Dying, ‘We are born to die. Not that death is the purpose of being born, but we are born toward death, and in each of our lives the work of dying is under way. The work of dying well is, in largest part, the work of living well.”
Andy McQuitty, writes; “…if we ignore the threat of death as too terrible to talk about, then the threat wins. We are overwhelmed by it, and our faith doesn’t apply to it. And if that happens, we lose hope.
It seems ironic, to those living life in the valley, that so many people only begin to think about their mortality when their life is almost over. By living daily in the shadow of death, we discover as people of faith that death is but a shadow. For the terminal patient getting good with dying often first involves some long nights of the soul spent staring at the dark ceiling wondering what it is going to be like to die and getting aggravated because they feel they still have too much they want to do. They fear partings and worry about the impact their passing will have on family and friends.
But those living in the valley of the shadow of death are no longer surprised by it. Rather they have defanged its fear and dispelled its mystery and, as a result, gotten good with death by reaffirming their faith in the goodness of God…Everyone knows they’re going to die…but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently. There’s a better approach. To know you’re going to die, and to be prepared for it at any time. That’s better. That way you can be involved in your life while living.
For Christians who have faith in the promises of God, by holding firm to what the apostle Paul writes, “…to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). God’s word enables us to see death from a new perspective that frees us from the fear of death, and because of the certainty of our resurrection we can proclaim, “Where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory over death through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-56).
As a result of Jesus’ atoning work in our place on the cross, we have faith that death no longer masters over us. His death killed death for us, so that now instead of a destiny, death is a passageway to an even better life.
In John’s gospel, he writes of the death of Jesus’ dear friend Lazarus. His sisters, Mary & Martha were grieved by the loss of their brother telling Jesus that they know if he had been there, their brother would still be alive. While Jesus did raise him from the dead, he first spoke to them about a more important resurrection. While Lazarus would go on to live a longer life, he would eventually die again. He wanted them to be certain of their resurrection unto eternal life.
“…I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:26).
I do believe it with all my heart, and I pray that you believe it too, right this very second. Because if you do, even your own death, will lose its sting in the salve of Christ’s salvation. I am good with dying, not because I am brave, but because I am certain of what is on the other side.
If this world was all there was and life on this planet was the only life we could live, then for a good God to allow an untimely death of any person would be a great miscarriage of justice. But this world is not all there is. In fact, it is only a brief interlude before the real show, the foyer to our true home in heaven.
So, when that day draws near and you are standing on the brink of another world, if Jesus is inviting you over, it would be unmannerly to refuse your promotion.
This blog is dedicated to my friend Greg Blackford, who just received his promotion from Jesus with great joy – a man who proclaimed in his final days and who made sure it was proclaimed at his memorial, that Jesus alone saves. I wish I could have been at his side to hear his Savior say, “Well done my good and faithful servant, now enter into my eternal bliss.”
Greg Blackford was a man who lived with the eyes of his heart fixed on his eternal destination. How about you?
