2 Corinthians 5:8-9 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
This could be said to be the ultimate definition of the believer’s perspective. Sadly, it’s not very common. We all get caught up in this world, and so consider every physical death a tragedy, when often enough it’s a great victory! Much has been made recently of the discovery of a famous actor and his wife, both dead in their home, but when the autopsy results were just revealed, it turns out that he was 95, had severe Alzheimer’s, and died of a heart attack, and she, though younger, had died of an acute respiratory virus, almost certainly before he did. If they were believers, it was doubtless a relief to both of them! We aren’t to seek physical death, but neither are we to fear it. Rather, we are to seek to please our Lord, as Paul says here, spending our time in our bodies doing what He wants us to do and trusting Him for when we get to go to the next level. The death of an unbeliever is indeed a tragedy, because they have lost the opportunity for salvation, but for the believer, it is a tragedy only for those they leave behind, who will mourn their loss. That said, we are all human, and even Paul had high stress as he approached his martyrdom. That said, we can do no better than what he testified to Timothy in his last letter: “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12) Regrets as we approach death are related to things we wish we had done or hadn’t done, so our focus needs to be on pleasing our Lord. After all, He knows better than we do what we really should and shouldn’t be doing!
As a pastor, I have lost count of how many people I have been around when they left their bodies. I’ve preached some funerals that were difficult, since the deceased had either not made an open commitment to Christ or had actively not been committed to Christ. I can remember those! I have also preached funerals that were celebrations of lives well lived, and those were actively enjoyable. I certainly know which kind I want my funeral to be! At 76, I would think that another 20 years would be an outside limit for me, and I find I have a growing anticipation, not of death exactly, but of what awaits me afterward. I certainly identify with what Paul says here about the “tent” I currently inhabit! Where it gets complicated is in thinking about my wife. She has quite a list of medical issues and it’s clear she would be far more comfortable out of her “tent,” but at the same time, I very selfishly want her to stick around for me! That said, she and I both love the Lord as fully as we know how, and we know that He loves us, so we are not to be anxious about anything but just rest, relax, and rejoice in Him, as He has told me personally to do.
Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me indeed please You and walk with Christ by Your Spirit for as long as You keep me here, so that all of Your plans for me may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!
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