Living as if death is imminent...because it is!

The laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent

(2 Peter 1:14, NASB).

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines imminent as “ready to take place; especially: hanging threateningly over one’s head.” Quite obviously the Apostle Peter, when he penned the words above, recognized that he could die at any moment.

Why, then, don’t we realize the same thing? We may say we are aware of that truth, but if we really were, I think we might live differently.

Eight months ago I moved my mother into a retirement/assisted living facility where caregivers were available to help her with things that I normally took care of but was often unable to do, especially when I traveled. In an effort to help her make the adjustment, I had business cards made up with her new address and phone number on them so she could pass them out to friends and acquaintances. Because they were designed as business cards, I felt I should put some sort of “tag line” on them, so I chose “waiting for the call to come home.”

It seemed appropriate at the time, particularly since Mom was nearly 90 years old and not in very good health. Yet, when I look at the card now, I think, “Why didn’t I realize how prophetic that was?”

The thought was reinforced yesterday when a column I wrote in June was posted in an online publication on August 31. I’d forgotten I’d written it until it popped up on my Google Alerts, so I clicked on the link to refresh my memory. There it was, an article about my mom, written in the present tense. Now, two months later, I was speaking of her in past tense.

Whether we are nine or 90, we need to live as the Apostle Peter, with the recognition that the “laying aside of [our] earthly dwelling is imminent”—“ready to take place,” even “hanging threateningly over [our] head.” Because Peter understood that, he devoted the last of his earthly energy and time to calling sinners to repentance and saints to a deeper commitment. Time is short, beloved. I don’t want to waste what little is left. How about you?

When a Loved One "Graduates" to Heaven

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren,

concerning those who have fallen asleep,

lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus

(1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, NKJV).

On Wednesday, August 3, just a few minutes past noon, my husband and I sat at my 90-year-old mother’s bedside and watched her slip into eternity. What mixed emotions accompanied her “graduation to heaven,” though we’d long anticipated it. We knew we were saying goodbye to her earthly body, but “until we meet again” to her spirit. It would be foolish to think that just because we know where she is and that we will see her again that we don’t feel grief or sorrow, but that sorrow is not the same as what is felt by those whose loved ones die without knowing Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

I experienced much the same thing when my dad died almost 12 years ago, though the immediate joy was perhaps a bit more intense, as he didn’t receive Jesus as Savior until the last week of his life—something we’d prayed for over many years. Mom, on the other hand, came to know Christ in a personal way at the age of 50, and God graciously gave her 40 more years to enjoy relationship with Him here on earth.

Whether we are blessed to receive Christ as children and live our entire life with our hand tucked securely in His or we mercifully come to him on our death bed, those of us who bid farewell to born-again loved ones can rejoice even as we grieve. To witness the end of my mom’s earthly suffering was to rejoice that she had at last stepped into the presence of the One who held her in His nail-scarred hands throughout her earthly journey and even as she passed through the valley of the shadow of death. One day I too will graduate to heaven and will at last see my Savior face to face—as well as all those who have gone on before me.

Indeed, we do not sorrow as those who have no hope, for Christ alone is our Hope. Thank You, Jesus!

Perfect Love...

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

Tomorrow is 9/11—an infamous day that the vast majority of us will never forget. Much like those who were alive on Sunday, December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, we remember where we were that morning in September when we heard the news that our beloved country was under attack. As the hours passed, we soon learned the extent of human loss, and we grieved, as we still do at the memory of that horrific occurrence.
Eight years later, we still grieve, though the pain has diminished with time, as it does in the aftermath of most tragedies. But the lessons of that day remain. Though God has promised to keep us in “perfect peace” if we will focus our hearts and minds on Him and His faithfulness, He has not promised that we will not experience difficult times. We live in a broken world, full of broken promises and broken hearts. We also live in a world that is, to a large extent, driven by fear—whether it be fear of the known, or the unknown.
Despite the fact that we have picked up the pieces and moved on with our lives since that horrifying day in September 2001, we cannot deny that we will never be quite the same as we were before those planes full of innocent people were flown into buildings, bringing death and destruction on a monumental level. And that’s as it should be. We need to learn from such watershed events and never return to the complacency that helped allow them to happen in the first place. But even as we take a permanent stance of vigilance against future attacks, we must take a stance of vigilance against allowing fear of the future to paralyze us from walking in the freedom and joy that is inherent in walking with our Resurrected Savior.
Jesus Christ defeated death. He didn’t go around it or over it, or avoid it in any way. He met it head-on—and came through triumphant on the other side, leaving an empty tomb as testimony of His great victory. That is Perfect Love, folks—a perfect love that overcomes death and promises to one day carry us through that inevitable experience as well.
As we rightfully remember and honor those who died on 9/11, may we also keep our hearts and minds focused on the One who is greater than any tragedy that comes our way. For as Romans 8:31 declares, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
May you all walk in the joy and freedom of the Perfect Love that casts out all fear!