The End That Is The Beginning |
I talked to a friend of mine this week who has 7 weeks to live. She is a young 62, vibrant and full of life but she has a death sentence. She is terminal. But she is also eternal for she has eternal life. As I talked to her it all seemed so terrible, so tragic to see such a truncated life coming to an end. But that was not how she saw it. She was filled with hope and anticipation of seeing her Lord, of being with Jesus the King. My friend reminded me that the old song - “Soon and very soon we are going to see the King” had taken on a new sense of relevance and significance. But that is what impending death does to you - It allows you to focus on things of importance and clarifies your priorities. A good death is being able to look backward and have no regrets, knowing that you did your best to be at peace with all men. But a good death also involves looking forward and having no fear, knowing that you will enter into a new phase, a new dimension of eternal life, and enjoy a new capacity of relationship with Jesus. Forever! The old Christian maxim is true: If you are born twice you die once. If you are born once you die twice. I plan on walking with my friend to the end, which is actually her new beginning. My message for her and to myself and maybe to you is contained in two theological truths concerning the character of God that will transform your life:
Serving Him with you until He comes for us, Fred |