We dread the death of friends and family. And most fear their own death. Those who don’t fear death hope nevertheless to postpone it as long as possible. It is rare to find one who welcomes death (though Paul wrote, “to die is gain” Philippians 1:21.) We SHOULD want to live. We should have plans and dreams.
God expects us to be FULLY ENGAGED IN THIS LIFE, and that is difficult for anyone anticipating Heaven.
Our view of death is zoomed-in. Have you ever edited a picture on a computer screen? If you use the zoom-in feature to bring your vision 400-times closer, you can edit the picture one pixel at a time. But after a few minutes working at the 400X level, you lose sight of the big picture and have to stop and zoom-out to verify your work looks natural. Life on earth is like that: we spend our entire life zoomed-in. It is only at death that we zoom-out and see the big picture.
God told King Josiah that God would punish Judah, but because Josiah wept for the nation’s sins, “I will gather you to your fathers in peace. Your eyes will not see the disaster” 2 Kings 34:27-28. In other words, God would take Josiah’s life EARLIER than He might have if Josiah had not sought God earnestly.
For Josiah, an early death was a REWARD!
Similarly, Isaiah writes that when “the righteous perish … faithful men are swept away from evil, to enter into peace” Isaiah 57:1-2. Death can be a mercy.
Josiah died at 39—a young age by any reckoning. But Heaven is better than earth, right? And Josiah beat everyone else there! We are all hoping to get there—we should remember that those who get there before us are being spared some of the suffering of this life.
What about modern America’s greatest horror, the too-common shootings of schoolchildren? Compassion requires silence in the presence of grieving families. There are no words.
But writing to my own family I can say: I believe those children are in heaven today, and would not choose to return.
God hates murder and evil and the pain of death MORE than we do—and He will execute justice. But He loves those children.
God, bless the grieving families and communities that have witnessed the shooting deaths of innocent children. May Your Holy Spirit bless the hurting and draw them to You.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 