Movin’ On Up
I attended a Celebration of Life for a dear friend a few days ago. While I can say, it’s never easy, I can also say there is a world of difference when you know, without a doubt in your mind, that they had given their life to Jesus Christ. I will be attending another Celebration of Life later this week. Another dear friend. A third friend lost her husband just a few short months ago. I feel, with an absolute certainty that they are all now in the presence of the Lord. And I know I will see them again!
I grieve for the loss of the families. I know their loved ones are missed so very much. I also know that their spouses of many years, have the comfort of knowing that their loved one will suffer no more, EVER! The pain, the uncertainty, the tears, they’re all gone. They know that when their loved one took their last breath on this earth, they went into the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Oh! What a glorious promise!
Each of our names are written on the hand of God. And we all have an appointed time. It may be many years or it may be tomorrow. Are you ready?
Still, death remains a mystery to many and we are all in the process of dying.
Ray Pritchard of Keep Believing Ministries says this in the article “What Happens When You Die”:
“If you want the answer in one sentence here it is: What happens after you die depends on what happens before you die. Consider what the Bible says in Hebrews 9:27, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (NKJV). This is an appointment no one will miss. As someone has noted, the statistics on death are appalling. One hundred out of one hundred people will eventually die. We are all terminally ill with a disease called death; we just don’t know when the end will come.”
When Benjamin Franklin was twenty-three years old, he wrote the following epitaph. His words catch the essence of the Christian doctrine of bodily resurrection:
The body of Benjamin Franklin
Printer;
Like the cover of an old book,
Its contents torn out,
And stripped of its lettering and gilding,
Lies here, food for worms.
But the work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believed, appear once more,
In a new and more elegant edition,
Revised and corrected
By the Author.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 says, “We will be with the Lord forever.” Speaking of his own return, Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3
As Tony Evans says, “Have a good time at my funeral, because I’m not going to be there.”
When my appointed day comes, I pray to “die well”. I want my loved ones to see Jesus in me throughout, whatever my process may be. I will pass from death to life eternal. I’m movin’ on up!
Pray Unceasingly!!
Lois