Dec 22, 2014
Therefore encourage each other with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:18
As I have meditated on the wondrous nativity story this Christmas, I have been struck by Elizabeth’s response to her pregnancy after a lifetime of being barren. In Luke 1:25 she bears witness, “The Lord has done this for me…In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
My grandfather was a medical missionary to China for twenty-five years. He established a three-hundred-bed hospital where he treated just about every type of illness and injury that could be named. Many of his Chinese patients were cured of diseases and saved from death by his skilled ministrations. But in time, every single one of the people who went through his hospital died! If all my grandfather had accomplished was to meet the physical needs of these people, his efforts would have been hopelessly futile. But my grandfather was wise. He knew that “man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,” and so all of his ambulatory patients were required to attend chapel every day in the hospital where they were given a Bible lesson and presented with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those who were unable to leave their beds were visited personally by someone who would share Christ with them. Hundreds, and even thousands, of Chinese men and women received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior at the Love-and-Mercy Hospital in Tsingkiangpu. And so many of my grandfather’s patients who eventually died – still live. As you care for others, make sure you give priority to their spiritual needs.
In the beginning, we were never intended to die. Death was not a part of God’s original plan. He created you and me for Himself. He intended us to live with Him and enjoy Him forever in an uninterrupted, permanent, personal, love relationship. But sin came into our lives and broke the very relationship with God for which we were created.
When your loved one dies and your grief is tinged with anger, don’t direct it toward God. He’s angry too. Direct it toward sin and its devastating consequences. Dedicate yourself to sharing the gospel as often as you can. Pray that through your witness others who face physical death will choose to escape the second death, which is hell, the ultimate separation from God, by placing their faith in Jesus Christ. As we face death, our only hope is in knowing there is genuine, triumphant, permanent victory over it that is available to us in Jesus’ Name!
