Perspective is everything. How do you view “death and dying” in your soul???
When you see these words, do you look at it from God’s perspective, or from that of the world and the flesh??
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Through God’s Word, we can learn and adopt HIS perspective, which is always right on all matters of life and death.
One night as I was praying for a suffering friend, and finishing reading a book about a missionary who ended up dying in service to Christ, the Spirit brought some thoughts together for me.
Please allow me to share…
When we reach the point where we can say to God from the heart “my life is in your hands, truly!”, then we come to a MUCH higher level of trust, and therefore MUCH greater intimacy with our Creator and Savior.
Death and dying is a God-ordained process to bring us to a place of complete surrender, and therefore greater intimacy with the Lord before we meet him face to face.
You may have heard that it’s good advice to heed a dying man’s words. Well, Missionary Eric Liddell served in China for many years, and eventually died in the arms of a friend in a concentration camp during World War II.
What were his final words right before dying, after serving and loving Christ and His people so well?? – “It’s complete surrender”.
This is why we should heartily say “God’s will be done” in our lives, because whatever He allows us to go through, it’s ultimately the best thing for us. We will realize this truth in heaven and be so forever grateful.
Our Heavenly Father knows what’s best, for each of us, as individuals.
May we always remember…
For believers in the Lord Jesus as Savior, their lives, and their deaths, are very precious in His sight, regardless of what our senses might tell us as we go through the Refiner’s fire.
Zech 13:9 And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.'”
Ps 72:11-14 May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him! For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.
Ps 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
For the unbeliever, God may be using the process of dying to bring them to their knees. He may then open their eyes to their desperate need for Christ and be saved from their sins.
Sometimes, only facing death will accomplish this in someone’s soul.
Eternity is a loooooong time, and the Lord ordains whatever’s necessary to usher His own to salvation.
When contemplating death and dying, we must remember the wisdom and love of God – we walk by faith, not by sight. 2Co 5:7
In fact, if you’re a believer in Christ, allow the following Holy Scripture to encourage your soul through the gift of perspective.
2 Cor 5:1-10 For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
To our opening thoughts again…
When we reach the point where we can say to God from the heart “my life is in your hands!”, then we come to a MUCH higher level of trust, and therefore MUCH greater intimacy with our Creator and Savior.
Death and dying is a God-ordained process to bring believers to a place of complete surrender, and therefore greater intimacy with the Lord before we meet him face to face!
While God may use this as a culmination in our lives, let’s be encouraged to draw near to Him NOW, that He may draw near to us, as He promises in His Word!
Let us surrender to Him each and every day. After all, our lives truly are in His hands, regardless of the fleshly control we’re tempted to impose on our lives.
James 4:7-10 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
May our faithful God and Savior bless you all in your journeys, especially in the journey of death and dying!!
For the believer in Christ, death is a promotion, a transfer from our earthly body to our heavenly home with God.
Perspective is everything.
Love in Christ,
Scott
