Before It All Ends In Tears

“So, we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”

~2 Corinthians 5:6-10

There’s no doubt that life is going to end, or at least life as we know it. Nothing lasts forever, especially not us. I liked watching a show called “1,000 Ways To Die.” The premise is summed up in the title, but the show was mostly about ridiculous ways people managed to kill themselves. I always thought I’d probably do something stupid that would end up with me on that show because I’m the clumsiest person around. One time, I knocked myself out with a piece of plywood and a chicken coop…. I woke up under the plywood, just my head sticking out, with the dogs on top of me, licking my face. My first thought was not if I had hurt myself, but instead, I was thankful I lived out in the boonies and no one saw me. At my funeral, people will not cry, they will be hiding behind their hands, laughing, whispering, “I can’t believe that’s how she died!” My husband has gotten to the point where he shakes his head and asks if my life insurance is paid up. I am not afraid of dying; of how I will die, maybe. But I am sure where I will go when I step from this life to the afterlife. I am not afraid of that because I know Jesus will be there to greet me, and so will many others that I miss every single day.

“But our citizenship is in Heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself (Philippians 3:20-21).”

When we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we also know that this life is only useful so that we can know Him as Lord and Savior and hopefully, pass that knowledge on to others. In the long run, our short lives have a glorious ending. Our sick, weak, old bodies will be transformed into a glorious body, just like Christ’s resurrected body. We will be brand new, healthy, strong, with no aches or pains, and better than we could ever imagine in this life. What we call the end of life, is actually the beginning of our eternal life with Him. It is all going to end in tears one day, and while we may not know when or how, we can know what will happen after. There’s only two choices, remain in our sin and spend eternity in hell, or live for Christ and accept Him as our Lord and Savior and spend eternity in Heaven. For me, there is only one real, viable choice.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:1-6).”

Read Psalm 60-68

©2018 Marie McGaha