Death and dying – The Living Message of Christ

This is something that no one can know unless they’ve experienced it. The loss of a parent or a child or even a pet that has been with you for many years is hard. Each of them had a piece of your heart and when they passed from this world to the next, they took that piece with them. It feels that way too. Thankfully, I’ve not lost a child but a dearly loved parent and grandparent both went to be with Jesus in 1995. I have only gotten to the point, in the past two years, that the holidays don’t cause the pain to resurface.

Nearly everyone has had some loss in some form in the last two years. Whether it was a loved one or a job or your health, all of us have had some loss to go through. No person has escaped this and if you have then you are very blessed indeed.

God cares for us and we truly are His creation and “the apple of His eye“. He considers Israel as the center of His eye so when others come against them it is like poking God in the eye. Not a very smart thing to do.

Deuteronomy 32: 9-10 says:

9 But the Lord’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.

10 “He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.

God cares whether you feel that He does or not. He is always near when you need comfort or strength and all you have to do is be humble enough to ask Him for help. Seek Him to be your Savior while there is time because the prophecies are being fulfilled every day and one day soon a trumpet will blow and the church, the Bride of Christ, will be taken up. After that day, life is going to be much worse than it is today. Make sure you are taken up with the church.

This is one of the least prepared-for parts of our lives. Death is one thing which nobody can escape yet everyone seems intent on putting it off as long as possible. Even though it happens to be the doorway to eternity, nobody is willing to step through it nor are they ever truly ready for it. But in today’s culture, it seems that many people are fascinated by it except that they want to choose how they die. This is one of those choices that most of us really don’t have the will or the ability to choose how we die.

So, what should we do or is there even something which we can do about this? Can we live a life of purpose and meaning and then, when we come to the end of our life, have a “good death”? It is a question which is perplexing and troubling at the same time. How do you have a “good death”? It depends upon your life and the quality of it, I think. A Christian will look at death as a doorway to eternity, regardless of how the person dies. Others will look at it from their perspective of religion or belief or the lack of belief which the person had.

If it is an unexpected death we look back at the life of the one who died. If it is the death of a loved one who died of cancer, then hopefully it was not a lingering death and one which was mostly free of pain. Hopefully, it will be a death which the person who is dying will choose not to prolong the process nor to hasten it by the use of drugs or other means.

Life is given to us by our Lord and our God and we should cherish it but when the end of our life comes around, regardless of how that may happen, we should accept it and help those of our family to accept it as well. Those who are surviving us will grieve and they will feel the loss of our life but we should try to help them to do so if we can. Remember, death is a part of life it just happens to be at the end of it, hopefully.

So, why am I writing about this today? Because, at any given time in the world, there are many who are experiencing the death of a loved one. It happens much more than we realize because the media tries to hide this fact from most of us unless it happens to be someone famous and well known. All of us have to experience the loss of a spouse or a child or a parent at some time in our lives. Some of us don’t have to experience it until later in life and some experience it far too soon in our lives or in the life of the one who has died. Their death may come due to accident or disease and it could come too early in their life for them to truly have lived, which happens too often in our world today.

God is still there with them and beside you to comfort and to strengthen you in order to help you bear the loss and the pain. Some of us tend to blame Him for a loss which was too sudden or unexpected but He knew when their day was and how it would happen long before we find out about it. God loves us and He does care for each of us whether we die in our old age or if we die in the womb, of natural causes or for convenience. God loves you, so don’t look up and blame Him when a life comes to its end because He already knew the day and the hour. But many times He wasn’t the cause of their death unless it was His mercy toward them and you as well.