Perspectives

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18… 13) Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14) For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15) According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16) For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17) After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever. 18) Therefore encourage one another with these words. (NIV)

As we get older most of us will or have been in contact with people who are nearing the end of their life here on earth. But how we deal with that most important time in life is quite another matter. And the reason I say this is because I have witnessed several different ways of dying.

Many will face eternity with the hope and the assurance that their future is going to be so great that it is beyond description, and they die in peace. Sad to say, however; there is another side. Some will approach death with rage, and they lash out at those who are trying to help. Few perhaps approach death blaming a God in whom they have never believed; crying out… Help me! I am afraid to die!

But for some, they fear death believing the world is a place where all things fade and decay, there is nothing beyond the grave but endless darkness. Now the Christian does not and should not think that way. For us there is hope, and that hope comes from God Himself

1 Peter 1:3… Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (NIV). The verse begins with the idea of rebirth; in other words, the Christian is a person who has experienced a new birth been reborn; changed again by God to a new kind of life. Whatever else others might say, it means that when a person becomes a Christian, there comes into that life a change so radical that the only thing that can be said is that life has begun all over again for them.

But that is not all. There is another thought. We have something of the very nature of God in us, and therefore; we have within us a life which neither time nor eternity can destroy. It came from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That means we have forever this Jesus Christ beside us who has conquered death, and therefore; we have nothing of which we need to be afraid. It does not mean that a person who accepts Jesus Christ into their life will never sin again; but it is to say that every time we sin we will be given the power and the grace to rise again, because the life of God is in us, and we have learned the secret of victorious living.

Nobody in their right mind expects to go through life without some form of testing. We expect trials to occur and we expect them to hurt, but with hope, we do not expect to be devastated by them. We can develop a spirit of determination in which we can stand anything because we know the future that is coming is better than anything we have known before.

Finally, we can look beyond today, staying open to unknown factors because we have learned that God often uses trials to refine us. We may even be thankful someday for how the trial has transformed us… yes, there will be trials, but there will the Holy Spirit to watch over us… To God Be the Glory Great Things He Has Done!

Would you pray this prayer with me?… “Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Forgive my sins. I want my life to change. My thoughts and my attitude need to change. I do not have peace in my heart, I really want that peace, joy, and happiness that I long for. Please let the Holy Spirit help me be the kind of Christian that will bring honor to Your Name.” Amen