We have had a wave of funerals at our church lately…two this week.  I’m always struck by our desire to prolong life – to live forever if we could.  It is amazing what people will go through to live a few months or a year longer.  Their loved ones sometimes encourage them to go through excruciating treatments just to have a little more time with them as well. When we die, even at an advanced age, it seems wrong – as if the universe has betrayed us.  I believe there is a part of every one of us that does want to live forever.  We want that because it was God’s original intent.  When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden, they were given free access to the Tree of Life.  As long as they ate from the tree, they would live forever.  That was God’s original for his entire creation.  Sin, of course, inserted a great parenthesis in that intent.

Solomon declared, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecc.3:11).  Every culture looks beyond this world for some form of eternal life, whether they look for it in reincarnation, some version of paradise or becoming one with the world soul.  Something tells each of us that physical death should not be the final chapter.

We are entering the Easter season.  It comes early this year but always brings a sense of hope.  It comes as Spring approaches and everything that appears dead begins to show life again. Our rose bushes are blanketed with fresh green leaves.  Fruit trees in West Texas, barren just a week ago, are covered with white blossoms.  Life is emerging again. It is a metaphor for eternal life in Christ.  When we thought all had ended, God had more.  An empty tomb is the promise of eternal life.  Physical death does not have the last word. Jesus has the last word.

His word is, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this” (Jn. 11:25-26)?  Through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, God has restored his original intent.
Jesus is the Tree of Life.  As long as we partake of him, we live.  Our eternal physical life will not be apparent on earth until the Lord returns with his saints and restores the earth to its pre-curse glory. In the meantime, we are with Christ in Paradise.  Ultimately, Satan will not beat the Lord out of anything.  The earth he set in motion with a pristine environment that partnered with man rather than opposing him, will spin through space once again.  God will live with his people and death will not be found in the dictionary.  

I have come to believe that our desire to hold on to life in this world is not so much a lack of faith about God’s goodness and a home in heaven, but is proof that we were never meant to die in the first place.  Death always seems wrong.  So, we comfort one another at each funeral with the hope that God has placed inside of us. We do so because we can, in fact, live forever with those we have loved and thought we lost. As Easter approaches, remember that physical death is not the end even as winter only hides life that emerges each year by God’s grace. Physical death for those in Christ is only the prelude to the eternity God has placed in our hearts. 

I apologize for not getting any blogs out last week. My goal is to write two each week, but last week was consumed with the death of my wife’s mother. Her mother Rose was a great woman of God who touched her children and her grandchildren more deeply than any other woman I have known. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s several years ago and finally succumbed to its unrelenting attack on the mind and body. She died New Year’s Day in a nursing home in the Texas panhandle. The family was gathered in her room when she took her last breath.

I have been present at the moment of death on several occasions. Those moments are sobering moments that put life’s real issues into perspective. Maintaining perspective is the key to living life well. First of all, those moments confirm that the only truly essential thing in life is a real relationship with Jesus. We will all die this side of His second coming. Medicine and science keep teasing the world with notions of living forever with replacement parts, gene therapies, and cryogenics. It won’t happen. Death is part of the universal curse brought on by sin. It is as much spiritual as physical. Science can postpone but not beat the results of sin, only Jesus can.

When a person lies helplessly as death approaches, only two things bring comfort. The first is faith in Jesus and knowledge that when the heart stops life does not cease with it for those in Christ. Death can only end our existence in this form but eternal life in the presence of God goes on. We began our eternal life the moment we said yes to Jesus but it becomes most obvious after slipping out of this body that is not suited for heavenly environments. Paul said that to be absent from this body is to be with the Lord. We get glimpses of heaven in scripture but ultimately it will be more that we can ask or imagine on this side. As Rose slipped away, her family felt the loss but also rejoiced that she had been set free from the prison of a broken body and was experiencing life and joy to the full in his presence. They also knew they would see her again because they too are in Christ. There is great comfort in that knowledge. I have officiated funerals where that knowledge did not exist in some family members. For them, there was nothing to say but goodbye. Their only comfort could be found in their mistaken belief that nothing exists beyond the grave. To think anything else would be terrifying. But those who love Jesus are not terrified. They are expectant and long to be in the joyful presence of the King.

The second thing that truly matters at the moment of death is the legacy one leaves behind. The greatest legacy is love. Real love teaches others how to love. We can only give what we have first received. Jesus loved us and gave his life for us, not just to save us but to teach us how to love others as he did. In John 13, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you. Love one another as I have loved you.” According to Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, no matter what we do in this life, if it is not motivated and supported by love it has no lasting value. At the end of that chapter, Paul simply tells us that the greatest thing in the kingdom of God is love. “Faith, hope and love remain. But the greatest of these is love.”

Love heals. Love unites. Love forgives. Love reconciles. Love puts others and the needs of others first. Love always acts in the best interest of others. Love affirms. It builds up. Love believes for the best in others to immerge. Satan hates love. It is the opposite of everything he stands for. Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy. Love gives life; gives rather than steals; and builds up rather than tearing down. When you stand in a room with a dying person, you tend to know whether he or she has sown love in their lives because of the response of those standing there. Those who love are loved by others because we reap what we sow and it is evident as a person prepares to exit this world.

No one says in their last moments that they wish they had worked more, accumulated more, been mentioned in one more article, manipulated one ore person for their personal gain, or set one more record. Those things seem important in life but not in death. In death, only faith and love expressed through compassion and service to others bring comfort because those are the things that connect us to Jesus.

The point is this. We should live with an eye toward death – not in a morbid sense but simply knowing that we will all be in that moment someday unless Jesus returns first. Knowing what is important at the moment of death tells us what should be important as we live out each day. As we minister to people for healing and deliverance we often talk about what increases our authority in heaven so that we can be more effective in our ministry. Jesus said that if we want to be great in the kingdom of heaven then we must be the servant of all. Service is an expression of love. Faith is certainly huge in the kingdom but Paul said that even if we have the faith to move mountains but don’t have love, that faith means nothing. I have come to believe that loving others with the heart of Jesus and serving others out of love is what gives a person real standing in the kingdom. That standing carries authority as well because the person who loves can be trusted with the things of the kingdom. Francis MacNutt, in his book Deliverance from Evil Spirits, talks about how much Satan hates love and that in deliverance sessions, a touch of true love, compassion, and concern for the person can sometimes dislodge a spirit when commands have not been effective.

As we move into 2017, I want more faith but I also want more love. Both are fruits of the Spirit that he must bear in us. I want a greater certainty in my life about every promise in the kingdom but I also want to grow in love. I don’t want to do good things or even right things simply out of duty but because I love those to whom I minister. That will be my consistent prayer this year. Standing at the foot of the bed as Rose took her last breath and exited for glory reminded me of those priorities and challenges me to make some adjustments. You may want to examine your priorities as well. Blessings in Him today!