This title may startle you, or give you a knee-jerk reaction. Is death something you have thought about? Is it something you are experiencing in this given season with a loved one? Maybe you were given a health diagnosis and you are on your ‘death-bed’ at this very moment. Or maybe you opened up this post from your email to read because you’re a subscriber and are confused why I’m asking this question. Well to be frank, I had a discussion with my mom the other day about people she knows who have recently died, and it made me want to write about this topic. It’s a sobering thought when you deal with death, no matter the circumstance. So I ask you this question: are you ready for death?
You might have already answered that question in your mind, but I’d like to elaborate on it and then have you return to your answer at the end of this post. Death. It has a negative connotation. Isn’t it ‘nicer’ to say that someone has passed? Of course–but I’m not here to make you feel good. I’m here to speak the truth. I’m a bible-believing Christian, who unashamedly preaches the bible as the infallible, inerrant, and inspired Word of God. That’s where my opinions and ideas of death will be coming from. I urge you to read on, even if you have a different opinion about the bible. Because guess what? We’re all going to die one day.
What do you believe about the after-life? Where do you think people go when they die? How do the answers to these questions shape the way you live and how you respond to death? Well my friend, as a bible-believing Christian, when each person dies, their body may be buried but their soul/spirit will live on: in heaven or in hell for eternity. All throughout my childhood and young adult years (until I was baptized at 22) I had a warped understanding of heaven. Heaven was just a word that got thrown around as an answer to where we go when we die. You’ll get to see all your family members who have died before (this isn’t always the case to those who didn’t make it; see Matthew 7:21) “Everyone goes to heaven. Only the ‘bad’ people go to hell,” I thought. This is wrong. This is unbiblical. In Ephesians 2:8-9, it is written: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” It is by the grace of God that I have my salvation–Christianity is not a works-based faith. There is nothing you do to earn your salvation (so heaven isn’t just for the ‘good’ people)! And if anyone told you differently, then they aren’t reading their bible. The fact of the matter is that we’re all sinners. Look at the two criminals on the cross next to Jesus when He was being crucified. One mocked Him and said “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” The other criminal answered and rebuked him, saying we are the ones deserving of our deeds but Jesus has done no wrong. He goes on to say, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:40-43). I tear up reading this passage because this example shows the love that Christ has when we meet Him where we are and confess that He is Lord. We are to humble ourselves before His holiness.
Let me make another bold statement about death as a Christian. There is no fear of death. I do not fear death because I know My Maker, and I have an intimate relationship with Him. I read the promises He has for His children in the bible and know that my thoughts align with His word. It is not my own thinking that tells me I’m going to heaven. It is the assurance of God’s word with my thoughts and relationship with Him that I know He will call me home one day. John 14:6 tells us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” In John 20:21, Jesus tells Thomas that because he has seen Jesus, he is blessed. But “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” In 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 it writes, “because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” When you accept Jesus as your Savior–you are justified by faith. You then go on the rest of your life until you die being sanctified through the Holy Spirit (our justification will naturally produce good works in us because we have the Spirit within us). It is not until we take our last breath and die, that we will be glorified in heaven with Christ.
Why would I fear death as a Christian? I must die to live again. Paul says this same thought in Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” He writes this to those in Philippi as he preaches Christ. He then goes on to say in verse 23, “I am hard-pressed on between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” Do not fear death if you are in Christ Jesus, fellow brothers and sisters. Does that mean we should have a desire to end our life and die? Of course not! Paul even alludes to that when he says he’s “hard-pressed between the two.” Our desire is to live until our very last breath and serve the Lord who created us. In reality, our time on earth is very short. We see this in James when he tells us, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). Our earthly life is but a blink of an eye compared to how we spend our eternity.
There is a saying I once heard that said funerals are a sad day for unbelievers, but to those who know Christ–it is a day to rejoice to the heavens! I believe many people don’t want to acknowledge the truth about eternity because they fear that their loved ones and close family members wont (or didn’t, if they are already dead) make it to heaven with Christ. So instead of confidently walking in the truth about heaven and hell, they are lukewarm in their beliefs, and in turn may be following down the same path as their loved one (this is why it’s important to fulfill the great commission as Christians). It’s a hard pill to swallow, and there is sympathy for those that are not called home. But at the end of the day the choice is yours, my friend. Right now. Just as Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). You have the ability to draw near to the gospel. If you don’t, then the alternative is to repel from it. There is no middle ground. You live for Jesus or you live for the world.
Dear friends, I said this earlier: We’re all going to die one day. Don’t you want to know without a shadow of a doubt that you are living your life like Christ and will one day be with him for all of eternity? If you are skeptical, or if you think you’re not ready yet, or you believe in Jesus but ‘don’t have time for all that Christian stuff’ –let me leave you with another sobering thought. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall; enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Jesus makes it very clear that not all who claim to know Him as Lord will be in heaven. John Bunyan said it best in Pilgrim’s Progress, “even from the very gates of heaven there is a way to hell.”
May the Lord bless you with salvation if you are an unbeliever, or may He bless you in sanctification as you grow to be more like Him in your walk each day. I hope this post has encouraged you to draw closer to Christ. Be blessed mamas, sisters, and friends.
“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’ ” –Revelation 7:9-10
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