In the aftermath of police shootings and school shootings and killing sprees at home and abroad, it is intriguing to observe the responses and debates that arise. Questions and proposals for solutions abound. Policies are considered, accepted, rejected, reconsidered, revised. Emotions run high.
People take sides. Sadness, fear, and anger flourish. Evidence abounds that human beings, though we long to be good, may in fact not be so good at heart after all. We are driven by fear, not love; by anger, not peace; by pride, not mercy, but we are, at least, trying. Trying to find meaning and a means forward.
There is one question, a personal question, an essential question, that I have not yet seen emerge in the relational landscape of public consideration. I think I understand its absence. It is a fearful question, and rightly so. The question is this: with death so prominent on the world scene, am I ready when death comes for what comes after death?
The deaths of others remind us that our own deaths are inevitable. That awareness raises within us an urgency to do all that we can personally and publicly to remove that moment as far from us as possible. Thus the policy debates related to gun control, abortion, and other death-related issues.
And thus the highly charged nature of those discussions. While we look for public protection, we take death very personally. It is more than a social issue. It is a personal, life issue for all of us, and no one blames anyone for taking death seriously.
The problem appears to be, though, that even when we take death personally and seriously, our first and most fervent response is often not personal.
Instead of taking stock of our preparedness for the inevitable, and doing something about it, we turn to public debate as if fixing the system around us will somehow fix the brokenness within us. It won’t. Never has. Never will.
We should, we must work together on the system of which we are a part, but success will come best and most quickly when we turn some eager attention to the state of our own heart and soul. Death will come. Policy may, in some cases, delay its arrival, but nothing stops it. So we must each be prepared for death. Hence the question: am I ready when death comes for what comes after death?
The Bible speaks of death as an event that ushers us into the presence of our Creator where we will face God’s evaluation and judgment. That’s why most of us fear death because we have this innate sense that something comes after that we need to be prepared for, but we are uncertain how to prepare. Some turn to works of compassion, others to positions of denial.
Everyone turns to something, hoping that their solution proves adequate in that essential moment.
Fortunately, the mystery of what comes next and what is required is no secret. The One who created us has made plain what is expected of us and what it takes to pass fearlessly through death into the eternity beyond.
Listen to these words of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came from eternity, lived among us, died, and rose again, returning to live eternally in the presence of God: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26, ESV.)
Jesus came to do what we cannot. He came to live out God’s creation purpose for human beings. He did so flawlessly, being exactly what God created us to be, doing exactly what God created us to do, loving, trusting, relying on God, and relating to God just as we are designed and created to do. He then gave Himself to death, taking upon Himself, in His body, the punishment our rebellion against God’s purpose for us deserves. We do not, by nature love God above all else and seek His glory more than life itself, even though that is what we are created for. We love ourselves first when we are created to love God and others. We serve ourselves first when we are created to serve God and others. We live for ourselves first, when we are created to live for God and for others. This is the essence of our rebellion, the core of our sin, and the source of our guilt.
Jesus came and did what we cannot do, and when we put our faith in Him, God forgives us, removes the burden of guilt from our souls, and prepares our heart for fearless love and life eternal. How can we be ready when death comes? Jesus says, “Believe in me, and even though you die, yet you shall live.”
Believe in Christ, trust Him, and you will be prepared for death and what comes after.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. Pastor Dale McIntire has served as pastor of the Cornerstone Community Church in Grand Marais since April of 1995.
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