Just a few days ago, I wrote of a time for everything. Farther down in the passage of Ecclesiastes 3, it specifically speaks of a time for mourning and a time for death. "A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance."
(Ecclesiastes 3:2 & 4)
The death of a loved one is always a sober reminder of how fragile life really is. Dear friends of our family are grieving over the passing of their father/grandfather. It was sudden; it was quick. It was just a moment in time. And now his soul has left this world where time is so important and has entered into a place where time is no more: eternity. My heart goes out to them, weeping with them.
I'm sure most - if not all - of us know what it's like to let go of someone we love. It's not easy. It hurts. And we miss them terribly!
Thinking on what my friends are going through has brought back so much of what I was feeling when my grandfather died. We were very, very close. And, because I know what they are going through, I ache for my friends all the more.
In the world's eyes, I am yet still young. But it occurred to me that the older you become the more death that is around you. As a child, the death of a friend or relative was a rare thing. But as I have gotten older, so have those around me. Death... it's a sure thing. We will all die someday. Whether it's sooner or later, it's going to happen. We do not know the day nor the hour, but one day our "turn" will come. Oh, I know that some people think they won't - they say they're too stubborn or tough - but that doesn't change the fact that it will happen. Whether it's something we accept or not, we can't stop it, and there's no getting around it or past it.
I enjoy observing people, but it is with sadness that I do so at times such as this. I have noticed within my circle of fellow believers there are only 3 different responses when a loved one dies: 1) a confident hope of God's promise of heaven, 2) an uncertainty of what is yet to come, or 3) utter grief and despair. When someone dies who knows the Lord as their Saviour, born-again Christians know for sure that they will be together again, and, though they sorrow, can praise the Lord that the loved one is no more experiencing the pain and trials of this earth. But when someone dies trusting in good works or religious traditions, there is uncertainty. You see, religion - mine, yours, or anybody's - is like a well; a well that, when you get to it, you discover that it's dry. That's why Jesus referred to Himself as the Living Water. Believers can only hope (the wishful hope, not the confident hope) that the loved one turned to Jesus Christ during their last hours. The third response is complete hopelessness and grief as their loved one lived until the very end as if there is no God of the Bible. And those who know the Truth grieve because they know that the soul is lost forever.
As clearly as believers have these 3 responses, people who do not know the Truth can only try to comfort themselves by using phrases like "they're in heaven" and reach for anything the possibly can to still have a link to their loved one. Yet in reality, they don't feel the comfort those words should bring because in order to have that blessed peace of assurance we must receive Christ as Saviour.
Have you ever thought on what will happen to you after you die? There is life after death (in heaven), and, conversely, death after death (in hell). Do you know where you will go? Will you live forever after you die, or will you die the second death by burning forever in hell? It's something you don't have to wonder about; you need to be certain.
We plan for all sorts of things in life: for education, for leisure, for work, for retirement, for marriage, for family, for daily necessities, for future needs, for vacations, and on and on, but not everyone has planned for eternity. If you haven't, why wait? Death comes in an instant, and ofttimes accidents and other tragedies happen without any warning. There is no better time than right now to prepare for the moment our life on earth ends and eternity begins.
You never know when your life will end... Will you be ready when it does?
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