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Monday, January 11, 2010

Death Is Always Unwelcome

Our daughter and son-in-law’s next-door neighbor died unexpectedly the other day at her workplace, a major healthcare clinic. She was 55. About the same time, two teenagers were killed in a car crash in our mountains. The driver who died was just 16.

Death is always unwelcome, regardless of a person’s age. The loss of a young friend or loved one is especially tragic, but our hearts hurt even at the loss of a 90-year-old friend or loved one. It's always hard to say good-by.

However, “Good-by” doesn’t hurt as much when a Christian friend or loved one leaves this life. We sorrow, but not as those who have no hope. Our hope rests in the promises of eternal life and eventual reunion with our departed Christian friends and loved ones in Heaven. Unless Jesus returns for His Church in our lifetime, all of us Christians will traverse “the valley of the shadow of death,” but we will enter our eternal Home and see our Savior face to face.

The body is a temporary tabernacle for the soul, but someday we will be absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). Ultimately, He will resurrect the body, give it immortality, and reunite it with the soul. For Christians, then, comfort accompanies the harsh reality of death. For non-Christians, the harsh reality of death presents a challenge: “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment (Heb. 9:27); but “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31)