Life Support

At 2:57 Sunday morning I received a message from a friend saying that her mother would soon be taken off life support. Cancer, it seems, was about to take another precious life. As I think about though, I wonder if we aren't looking at death in the wrong way.

My friend was seeking prayer. That is an excellent place to start. God can heal anyone at any time from anything. So, why doesn't He? We can pray and pray and pray, yet, in most cases, nothing seems to happen. Why not? It's a question that everyone asks.

If you read the Bible you will notice instances of God healing people, raising some of them from the dead. But why does He do that? Why doesn't God just heal everybody?

"It is appointed unto man once to die." - Hebrews 9:27

If all of us are destined to die once, what's all this talk about eternal life? The eternal life that God offers us in exchange for our belief in Him is actually the key. Looking at death from the eternal end of things and looking back at this life - suddenly our viewpoint changes.

In this life there is pain and suffering. Jesus promised us that.

"In this world you will have trouble." - John 16:33

But in the next life things look better. It's almost like death is the gateway to paradise. That's because it is!

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." - Revelation 21:4

The key to our getting into heaven, where there IS no more pain or cancer or suffering, if our belief in Jesus, that He was who He said He was, the Son of the Living God. We must then turn from the sin we were living in and walk in obedience to God. We will still screw up. We will still sin. But Jesus died for our sins - past, present and future.

So from an eternal perspective death is really a plus for the person who dies - if they profess a faith in Christ. For the rest of us however, the death of a loved one hurt so very deeply. The loss, the absence of our loved one. But we can fix that. If we believe in Jesus as well we will soon be reunited with our believing friends and family members.

Later Sunday morning I received word that my friends mother has died. Death is a sad thing for those who remain behind. But death's not so bad, when viewed from an eternal perspective. No more pain, no more tears.

There Will Be A Day - Jeremy Camp