As a pastor I find myself often contemplating some of the basic issues regarding life. Life is an amazing reality. To be aware that an immortal soul is housed within a dying vessel and is in reality imprisoned there is an interesting thought. And beyond that to realize that a majority of mankind exhausts that life without embracing truth and God is in a sense incomprehensible.
In this last week some friends of ours gave birth to a new son and a dear lady within our fellowship said goodbye to her husband of sixty-one years. I find that this “life” we lived is bracketed with first the struggle of birth and then with the often even more difficult struggle of death. And wishing not to be too morose I find that the process of that life is also a struggle. Why in heaven’s name would anyone wish to do that without God? I would like to think that those who exhaust life without God do it mostly through ignorance, but the reality is rather to be found in a selfish rebellion. We simply imagine that we know better how to spend our few years than our faithful Creator. It amounts to nothing more than a sad waste.
The apostle Paul found the real answer to life in a relationship with God through the reconciling work of Jesus Christ. He spent his life in fruitful service that would find its payback in eternity. Every soul on earth has that opportunity. And then when the end of this earthly life approached he had an eager anticipation of heaven. There is a model for us all to follow.
Philippians 1:21-23 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
You can make the struggle at the end of life a much happier time, if you spend the course of life serving God.
