I told you last week about going to two funerals. It wasn’t fun, but then death never is…unless of course the person in question was a Christian. Then, the challenge is to remind oneself…while dealing with the inevitable feeling of loss…that Christians will see one another again. During one of the funerals, the pastor played a gorgeous new recording of a very old hymn that speaks to this notion now.
The Lutheran hymn It is not death to die was written in the 1830s and gets very close to this idea of living well now:
It is not death to die, to leave this weary road
And join the saints who dwell on high
Who’ve found their home with God.
It is not death to close the eyes long dimmed by tears
And wake in joy before Your throne
Delivered from our fears.
O Jesus, conquering the grave
Your precious blood has power to save.
Those who trust in You
Will in Your mercy find
That it is not death to die.
It is not death to fling aside this earthly dust
And rise with strong and noble wing
To live among the just.
It is not death to hear the key unlock the door
That sets us free from mortal years
To praise you evermore.
Like most people, I wonder what it will be like to die. I have some friends who are convinced that their last breath here will simply be that…the end of the story. I am equally convinced they are wrong. Not only does my heart tell so, but the historical evidence is overwhelming. Thus, in the end, I know my last breath here will simply be the first as I finally arrive home. This place is not my home, and in the end, as I trust in Jesus, I will find that it is not death to die. I will rise…I think I will be greeted by loved ones who have gone before, and soon I will see my Master and my King. It will be a glorious celebration, and I will hear the words “well done, good and faithful servant.”
I hope you, my dear reader, come with me. I’ve written and spoken for years about how to Live Well. There truly is only one way to do this…by placing your faith in the One who has already conquered death and life, the One who gives such deeper purpose to life. I want you to live well….not found in religion, not found in the human arrogance that assumes there is no God, not found in intelligence, money or fame. It is found in Jesus Christ.
In Him….you too will Live Well and then, upon that last breath, realize it is not death to die.