Recently a younger friend of ours unexpectedly passed away after recovering from an illness. A younger person dying is not uncommon, but it really hits home when it's someone you know and have worked with for many years. One day they are here and the next, gone. It's always quite a jolt.
Christ said to be watchful for the end. It will come like a thief in the night. We tend to think this means the end of the world. For our friend, it was. We never know the day or hour. We think we have forever.
Way to often, I hear people questioning "why did God take them?"
Well, God did not take them. Disease took them. Or, cancer took them. Or, an accident took them. But, God did not take them. Death took them.
God received them.
The death of a friend is sad, for us. We will miss them, and our lives may change. We gather and are sad together. Yet, with the knowledge that God has made a place for our friend in Heaven, we should celebrate. God has made a room for our friend in His home. From the beginning of time, it was God's plan that our friend would spend all of time with God and share in His glory. Did you know that God made you to be His friend? He wants you to share His glory. You didn't make it, work for it or even earn it. Yet God has made it ready for you and even went and made it possible for you to have it, through the death and resurrection of His Son. A home for you, with God in Heaven.
We should celebrate the day. Our friend with God, seated at a banquet table, celebrating in a place that has no pain. A place that has only joy, friendship and endless adventure. A place where............... even better than your best day on this earth.
This is what death means to a Christian. It means a birth. A new birth with a new body in a new place called Heaven. Where you are with God and He with you.
This is available to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ; and, believes that He died our death for us, so that we may live. So that we may live eternally in Heaven with our friends, our Savior and our Creator.
