One year ago today my Aunt was
freed from the cancer that had entrapped and burdened her for the past two
years. She received her new and healthy body and was reunited with the God who
had her name written on his hand, because she believed in and relied on Him. She is now
fully restored and redeemed.
There is incredible hope that can
come from the realization that she is not here; she is in Paradise! God makes
it known numerous times in the Bible that there is a life after this one. His intention
from the beginning was to make creation “good”… but not yet perfect. This good
creation was susceptible to fail, and fail it did, big time. Now we have cancer,
and pain, and of course, death. But death was never intended to be the ultimate
end for us!! Because God loved US… his fickle, corruptible, creation, he sent
Jesus—who was fully God and fully human—to go before us into death and
establish a new covenant. Through the hope of Christ we are redeemed, restored,
established and strengthened in righteousness. The ultimate hope comes when we
die—then we will be WITH our maker for the rest of time!
Death can be the most complicated
thing in life, or the most simple. It is the inevitable end, but can also come
at any moment. Whether we are prepared or comes suddenly, the loss is felt the
same. We try to deal with death and it perplexes us and can scare us. We write
songs to “live like you were dying” but we cannot possibly live as if tomorrow
was our last day because WE ARE ALIVE. We have commitments to attend to and
opportunities to use our lives for amazing things.
I believe
that our time here on earth has a purpose. I believe that each moment we have
in our lives can be used to impact the greater world as a whole. The Apostle
Paul longed for death because he would be WITH Jesus forever! But Paul also
realized that he was blessed with his time here on earth, and he lived with the
purpose of telling as many people as possible about the love that Jesus has for
them despite everything in their lives. Paul could do this so well because he had
been the worst of the worst—in his early life, he had murdered, he had
authorized persecutions, and he had an intense hatred for Jesus Christ. It was
not until Paul had lost something that was vital to him that he was able to
more fully see and understand the love and grace that Jesus had for him.
Anyone is capable of a change.
Jesus loves everyone despite all of the mess that can come in life. We all have
our messes, and big or small, they look the same in the eyes of Christ. Our time
here is very short. Any day could be the end of anyone of us. Make today and
all the moments to come meaningful. Love the people close to you, enjoy these
moments, and seek fully after God.
