Death and Aging

Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel...
2 Timothy 1:10

I look at the skin on my hands and it is withering, like the leaves that are turning brown, curling up and falling to the ground. Death is heavy with me this Autumn. Is it delayed reaction to my father's death last winter? He took with him the last buffer between me and the next world. Is it the whisper of the Holy Spirit? He whispers, "Life is temporary, let go of attachment to it."

My natural reaction is rage. We are called to be more than that. Only in Jesus is there strength in the face of bodily death.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi Carol

nice talking to you just now. And I remembered your blog site. Took a view of your posts and this topic caught my eye.

Do you know I have been thinking of that topic for months and I wanted to put down some thoughts under the title, "By the Grace of God".

From the first day of life, belivers or non-belivers, all live under the grace of God. Death is a great equaliser for mankind. But death is not an independent force of itself. It is door through which we enter into the Father's realm if we know him. We do not have preexistence until we come to life in his breathe. He literally breath us, one by one, into being.

As Paul would have it, he had wished to be returned to the Father in that instance. But God has remaining work for him to do. Because of Paul, today we received God's instructions in the Pauline letters.

When I received news of Dad Murray's passing, I thought about my turn to receive the Father's favour. But I know we all have work that He had placed us in and we must finish it to glorify him. Physical death has lost its meaning to me. Together with it, aging is just a hollowing out of our mundaneness.

So I have long died in Christ and now everything I want to do is to be obedient as Jesus is obedient to the Father's will. We are all great in his sight and only if we believe in His point of view, we will always try to look beyond. By the grace of God, we are already living the beginning of his eternity now. Believe there is no more tears of grieve, only tears of joy.

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Following Jesus is the act of casting away the life in this world and the moment we step into his grace, we entered his eternity in him.

Didn't you know you are a great friend. The best that God would have given to others who need one.

Hinwai

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