Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Dying Well

I just had one of the conversations that brings me hope and joy and tears and a sweet sort of longing for home.  One of my older brothers in Jesus had the amazingly tender and miraculous experience of being present with his Dad when Jesus called his Daddy home.  You never know what to expect when you call someone to check in on them when they have lost a loved one. You don't know if you should greet them with consolation or with gratitude that God has taken home a person who was longing for home.  I fumbled through a greeting and got to the heart of the matter, Kevin, how are you doing? 

Kevin was full of gratitude to God. He was full of the grace that comes from knowing that when death comes to a beloved Father that it is not an ending of a life but a beginning of a new life. He was full because in his Dad's final moments his Dad did what only a Man of God could do with his last breath.. He blessed his children...  He told them he approved of them, they were special to him, he loved them.  He poured over them in whatever bits of energy that he could muster that their father was proud of them.  He did more than just bless his children, He blessed His God.  He with struggling breath spoke the words of Amazing Grace.  He knew that God had saved a man like him, that he was lost once, but now he is found, and he is about to be in the very presence of the God who found him.  Tears rolled down my cheeks for the beauty of a man dying in Christ and leaving a legacy of grace to his children.

Kevin's dad welcomed death. He saw it as a homecoming.  He loved his family well and loved His God and was ready to trust his family into God's hands, and his own life into God's presence.  The bottom line is that really no matter what happens in your life, death will come.  No one really escapes death. There was a guy in the Bible who was taken up (Elijah) and didn't really experience an earthly gory death story, but other than him I can't figure on anyone who really dodged that bullet.    So the question is what are you going to do with the reality of death?   I can't imagine how horrifying it would be to face death without hope in Jesus.  The good news is that none of us have to face that kind of horror.

John 3:16-18

New Living Translation (NLT)
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

 You have probably heard this verse from the Bible.   But why would we perish in the first place?  Romans 6:23 says  "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."  The price we pay for our sins is death, that means to be eternally separated from God.  You don't know what that is like because even though we live in a messed up world the presence of God is still here. He lives in the lives of believers in Jesus. You still are living under grace even though you may not believe in Jesus. It is a common grace, a grace you experience vicariously through the church and through the beauty of God's creation.  

When it is all said and done and you pass away the folks who have accepted the gift of life from Jesus will be with God in heaven, and those who haven't will go somewhere without God.  I can't even fathom what that place would be like but imagine the very worst you have seen on the world, and take away the grace of God's presence, and input what the Bible calls weeping and gnashing of teeth and you may have a vague idea of the horror of it all.  

 Dear friend,  consider the changing of the leaves.  It is about a time of dying with beauty.  The leaves are losing their summer of life and soaking up the sun, but before they go they give off one final glorious display of color.  Dying is a part of creation, it is apart of all of our lives.  We don't have to fear death.  Jesus has opened a door for us to be adopted into the family of God and He will beckon you home some day.  Live life soaking up the radiance and beauty of God and then in your dying you will leave a legacy of grace and blessing.  You will meet death with a peaceful smile on your face.  You will be going home to the one who loved you so much that when you were His enemy he reached out to you and sacrificed His life for you.  Dear friend, when it comes to your death bed, know that you can die well because you have lived well in Jesus.  Let your dying days be a time for your family to celebrate your life in Christ and not a time of weeping and despair and fear all wrapped up into one package of hopelessness.  

Today my friend Kevin is celebrating his dad's life and his dad's death. He is celebrating with many friends and family whose lives were touched and changed by his dad's generous heart.   Be the one your family can celebrate when it all comes down to it.  Live your life with Jesus now and let your death just be a glorious continuation of abundant life.
 

1 comment:

  1. This is beautiful! Thank you for sharing Kevin's father's story!

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