Let’s begin this with the statement, “No one enjoys losing a family member or close friend.” I know, I have lost animals that I consider family and it wrenches the heart like nothing else. I lost my mom and dad, aunts and uncles and like everyone else. It kills my heart to even think about it. We already know, that older ones in our lives will die and someday, we will also die. We all know that to be born here on earth means one day we will die; that everyone ever born will die one day. It is a fact of life. Having stated the obvious, I wonder why so many fall apart when another passes on?
Close friends are no different, it always tears our hearts apart. We spend thousands and thousands of dollars to “keep them alive” then we turn around and spend way too much just to bury them. We spend way too much on flowers and burn the midnight oil for our brains to come up with the appropriate eulogy. We spend a great deal of time at funerals saying how much they meant to us, and yet wouldn’t it have been better to tell that person while they are still alive?
This whole thing really smells to me. And believe me when I say, it is BIG business, billions of dollars every year! And how many of the people are not able to afford such grand goodbyes? On the surface, it is said to be the best way to end one’s life. Behind the curtain though, hearts are breaking and sadness prevails. Is this really the worst that can happen to another, to die on this earth?
James 4:14: “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
Psalm 144:4 “Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.”
Two verses from the Word of God that say the exact same thing, that our lives are short and one day we will die. From the Lords lips to our ears! After we die, what difference is there between a pine box and a gold covered casket? I do not mean to be crass or difficult, but it is the truth to ask a question like this.
Some people who were close to the deceased never regain their composure; they simply fall apart and then stay that way. Why? The pastors tell us, “Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.” Is no one thinking of this at that time taking it to heart, understanding what we know is truth?
When Jesus Christ was crucified his family was there were there and died and they mourned, along with the 12 disciples. Yet, we know if Jesus Christ had not died for us, we would never see heaven, so we praise HIM for His death on that Roman cross. Actually we praise Him for His sacrifice of His life to reclaim us.
My question is more with what we see today, the death of Michael Brown, of Robin Williams, the Ebola victims and more. Yet the world continues in their wars as if no one has learned a single thing from all the previous wars! ISIS and Boko Haram continue their killing sprees as if they have no idea of what they are doing, not only to themselves but all the others affected by their actions. And what’s more it will never end and the Bible tells us in prophecy, that the killing will continue. The entire way all these people go about everything, is almost a direct contradiction.
My ancestors thought owning land was like trying to own air! Like someone is running around saying ,“Hey YOU! Stop breathing over there, that’s my air!” When you stop and think about it and according to the Word of God, no owns anything here; you did not make it! Even your money comes from trees and plants that don’t belong to you, they belong to God. God created your body, in the womb of your mother, that makes your body His. Yet we run around and use it and abuse it, knowing it is the temple of the Lord God!
Stop and think again, “My body is mine, I can do whatever I want with it!” And the truthful answer is…”No it ain’t yours to do whatever with!” God created your body, your soul and your spirit; it belongs to God. You as a person are just along for the ride. Please don’t be so foolish about this. And one day soon, the Lord is going to require you to give it all up to Him…again! Please understand, WHERE you end-up is totally up to YOU!
Since we are on this subject, let’s understand something here. It matters little whether you die from a disease, an accident, a bomb or a bullet or even beheaded. Dead is simply Dead. Each of us will have our day to deal with that. What everyone does not understand yet is this: Death came along with sin. It is sin that creates and sustains wars, drunk driving, overdoses, suicides and homicides!
Romans 7:17-20: “Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”
As the verse above states, it is the sin in me that causes my death. The point here is this: The blood that Jesus Christ shed on that Roman cross…is the only thing that can wash that sin away…forever. That Sin is forgiven and washed away. The fact that sin has been in our lives is the reason for our death, but being forgiven of our sin and having it washed away by HIS blood…our lives do not end…with the death of our bodies!
Your “senses” work by virtue of your spirit, which is within you. When that body dies, there is nothing anyone can do to change where you go to in Eternity…except Jesus Christ…who IS God! No one can say enough prayers over your body to get you into heaven.
Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Please people, read the verse above and then re-read it again, it is the absolute truth and it answers every question concerning our sin and the grace of the Lord God! There is NO greater example, especially in light of what we are talking about here.
John 15:1-5: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
This Scripture is the ABSOLUTE Truth. Our lives whether saved to Jesus Christ or not have never belonged to you or me or anyone else. You can’t even have a thought without God allowing it or not! And we must remember that a thought is also called an “Intent of the heart.”
God Almighty knows every single thought you have ever had and a thought is always followed by action. Therefore a thought or intent of the heart is sin even before we act on it! The entire reason we must always be on guard of what we think and ask the Lord to bless us with His thoughts and not our own.
Everything we see around us, speaks of our own desires to be in control of ourselves! That is impossible, except the Lord God allows it. Thus, when we sin, we have already thought it all out and we stand guilty before the Lord. If the blood of Jesus Christ does not cover our sin, if we have never given our lives over to God, then we stand condemned ultimately to the lake of fire. Does this make any sense to you?
As we descend into the days just before the Rapture, we NEED to be acutely aware of our standing according to God and His Holy Word. Why did God gave us His Holy Word—the Bible? Know this and remember it:
Matthew 7:13-14: ‘Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and FEW there be that find it.”
There’s that little three letter word, FEW. That will scare the life out of a believer, or it should. Failure to abide by what the Holy Word of God says, is to commit your eternal existence to the lake of fire! And somehow, everyone thinks this life is full of disappointment and drudgery, think again my friend!