Blessed HOPE!

 Several years ago, I received a note from a good friend..."my dad's cancer is progressing.  His time here is probably down to days."  

When I read those words, I was transported back to the last time I was with his dad.  I was saddened by this news, concerned for the grief this final act of life would introduce to my friend and his family...and not.

My friend's father did lose his life, but not once was he in danger of losing his hope: the sure promise that he, as a believer in Jesus Christ, would finally be transported into the presence of His Lord and Savior, there to enjoy life as HE designed it to be.

2022.

Another challenging year, a planet torn by COVID, the contentious spirit of the age, mayhem in our cities; an economy ruined by a microbe, ravaged by circumstance, and failed leadership.  People paralyzed by fear, turning on each other in the ongoing pandemic debate, culture war, and increasing political divide, in some cases misled by bad actors who refuse to "let any crisis go to waste."

Life is hard, then we die.

Death is a very present reality for all of us--the daily COVID statistics trumpeted each evening through a thousand different news portals slap us in the face with our inevitable end.  COVID has made us all acutely aware of our mortality.  

Now what?

We will all lose our lives, but we need not lose our hope.

Praise God for our hope in Christ and the healing death brings for those who have embraced Christ through effective saving faith. 

For these, death need not be feared; it is a gracious provision that carries us back into a "face-to-face" real-time relationship with God.  Without death, we would be eternal beings, like Lucifer and the legion of angels, which were cast out of heaven because of their rebellion...eternally separated from God, without hope of redemption.

Death became the modality God uses to foil Satan's attempt to co-opt God's crowning creative act, humankind.  So then, death is the definitive "check-mate" and demonstrates God's mastery; always steps ahead of evil and the chaos of sin.  Genesis 3 describes the event that initiated Adam and Eve's rebellion to sin and its necessary result, death; it's also here that we learn that death is part of God's bigger plan for hope and the redemption of humankind.

The rest is history, 1 John 4.9,10...

"God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." 

Love moved God to lavish upon humankind, generous grace.  We know that death simply marks the first day of the rest of our lives, 2 Corinthians 4.16-18...

"Therefore, we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly, we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are renewed day by day.  17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen...."

Each Sunday, it's our privilege to gather with others in our community of faith and there, to go Vertical in our worship of God Almighty, the Creator, Sustainer of the universe, the Lover of humankind. 

His glory fills that place we gather in, and He inhabits the praise of His people.  In those moments, I am frequently reminded of friends and family who have preceded me in death...and are in His literal presence even as we are gathered in that crowded room; no more heart failure, COPD, cancer, diabetes, stroke, dementia, arthritis, infirmity, organ failure--no disease, no broken hearts, no flaw, no pain, no suffering, no regret.

Joy unspeakable. 

Blessed h0pe.

We will rise; thanks be to God. 

Stand firm; no plan, no purpose will be left undone.

It's a GRACE day.
Liveitwell!