In each of our lives, from the moment we are born, the work of dying has already begun. To
die well is the work of living well. We talk about life with ease but become afraid and
fearful when even at the thought of death. Death, the unmitigated evil, the very antitheses
of all that is good. In the WORD G-d tells us to fear not and that fear is not of G-d.
No matter how much exercise, nutrition and thank G-d for the advance of the medical world,
death cannot be halted but only delayed. It is an absolute truth that the mortality rate for death
holds steady at 100 percent. You nor I will ever get out of this world alive.
The Preacher had it right: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter
under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die . . . a time to mourn, and a time to
dance.”
How do we die? Each death, like each life, is unique. Some deaths are noble. Some are petty.
Some are loving. Some are angry. Most are a combination of these things. But just as our
lives are, to a great extent, at our command, so too are our deaths. Although we cannot
determine precisely the day and hour of our passing or its ultimate cause, we can often
orchestrate how we want our last days to be. All of life is a choice.
Life itself is a journey and there are valleys along the way. But the greatest journey of
all is our journey to eternity. Some day, at some moment, we will leave this world. Making our
final exit from this life into the next with no more darkness, no more sickness, no more pain and
no more tears. But to hear the words “well done my faithful servant” are the words we will want
to hear. Have you lived a life worthy for G-d? Are you ready to meet your creator and maker?
Matthew 7:21 (EXB)
21 “Not all those who say [L to me] ·‘You are our Lord’ [L ‘Lord! Lord!’] will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do ·what my Father in heaven wants [the will of my Father in heaven].
Within all of us is a hunger for something more than this life. God has planted in all of us a king sense of eternity. Somehow, we just know that we know that there is something heavenly and eternal after this life. We hope for it, we want it, but many of us don’t know how to get there.
Death is not something to fear as the unknown enemy. There is gain that the child of God
expects in death. This is a beautiful, personal testimony of the apostle Paul, but also one
that every child of God, by faith, can make. The apostle says, while himself awaiting the
very sentence of death, “To die is gain.” Literally, we read in the original, “To me to
live is Christ, to die is gain.” The phrase “to me” is placed at the head of the sentence
deliberately for emphasis. To me — that is, as far as I am concerned, to live is Christ.
And death, to me, is gain. For others who preach Christ out of contention, that may not be
true. But to me it is! Death, he says, is gain. Death is not loss. Death is not
destruction. But death is, in fact, benefit. Death is my profit. Death is to my
advantage.
I was impressed by the following blog and just had to share it with my readers:
It is titled Death
“From the moment we are born, we begin to die.”
This quote used to be one of my favorites. It both terrified and intrigued me. Only
recently did I realize something new when I heard this quote.
I march, not toward death, as the quote implies, but life. Oh yes, I will die. But for me,
death is only the vehicle to which I take to my new life.
Death (and the long, slow, often agonizing march toward it that we call “life”) is but a
momentary pause, a blink, the final definitive step through the doorway that leads to my
true life.
How much I look forward to that day!!! For, when I die, I will have entered into the final,
glorious phase.
Like a bride slipping into her gown in the dressing room, such is death to me.
After that, it won’t be long til those door fling open wide, and my Groom will come to meet
and lead me out to our eternal home – the renewed and reunited Heaven and Earth. He will
take me by the arm, and in the moment that I have dreamed about for so long, we will walk
out into eternity, in all His glory and all my joy.
No, death is not bitter to me. I am bitter only that I must probably wait so long for it to
come.
To visit this blog:
http://emilymueller143.wordpress.com/tag/from-the-moment-we-are-born-we-are-dying/
What must you do to be saved:
1) Believe in Christ. Jesus said, “if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your
sins” (John 8:24). This faith comes through hearing God’s word (Romans 10:17). Without
faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
2) Repent of your sins. To repent is to turn away from sin and wrongdoing and determine to
live for Christ.It is a change of mind which results in a change of life. Some have equated
repentance with sorrow, but it is more than that (II Corinthians 7:10). Jesus said, “I tell
you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5). Paul told
those on Mars’ Hill, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all
men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30).
3) Confess your faith in Christ. The Bible says, “For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10). The
Ethiopian eunuch made this confession when he told Philip, “I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God.” (Acts 8:37). It is this confession which Christ said was the basis upon
which the church was built (Matthew 16:16-18).
4) Be Baptized. Finally, we find that if one wishes to be saved, he will be baptized in
water for the remission of sins. We see this happening in Acts 2:38, when after the people
had heard the gospel (Acts 2:22), and believed that Jesus is “both Lord and Christ” (Acts
2:36), the people asked, “what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). Peter’s response was that they
needed to “repent and be baptized … for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). On another
occasion, after Philip “preached Jesus” to the eunuch (Acts 8:35); when “they came to a
certain water,” the eunuch asked, “what doth hinder me to be baptized?” (Acts 8:36). When he
was told to believe in Christ, and he confessed his faith (Acts 8:37), “he (the eunuch)
commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip
and the eunuch; and he baptized him” (Acts 8:38). The teaching of Philip and the response of
the eunuch parallels not only Acts 2:36-38, but also Mark 16:15-16.