on monday night, i received news that my godpa collapsed in the office while packing and even after being rushed to the hospital, he didn't make it. he had a heart condition for about 20 years already, but that still didn't take away the shock from his death. it was all so sudden and i just couldn't believe what had happened.
through the past week, attending the wake and funeral services, and through the whole episode, it just reminded me how humans are really just so fragile. who knows what will happen to us the next day, the next moment? "i am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean, a vapour in the wind" these words from the song "who am i" are so apt. we are but nothing, yet we have a God who loves us.
the only reason christians are able to not grieve without hope over the death of a friend or loved one is because we know what lies ahead of us. we are assured that God will be welcoming us into His presence in heaven when we believe that He sent Jesus to die for our sins and that He rose from the dead. we are not afraid of death because the God that we believe in had victory over death. Jesus was resurrected from the dead and so what can death do to us? the power of God is greater than the power of death. and it is because we know that one day Jesus will come again and that we will be reconciled with God in heaven, we also know that we will be able to meet our loved ones who have passed on again in the future. to me, that is the most comforting thing and the reason we are able to sustain through someone's death.
i was thinking to myself, if i weren't a christian, i wouldn't be able to face death. i'll be so unsure of what lies ahead of me after dying and whether or not we can see our loved ones again or is it really the end. i'm so grateful to have been given the grace of God, to be God's child, knowing that i can rest in Him and place my hope in Him, a hope that won't lead to disappointment, but rather a hope that will lead to eternal glory.
"In His (God's) great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time" 1 Peter 1:3-4.
I've been doing the book of 1 Peter for YAM bible study and indeed the words are so encouraging. our hope is living and we know that we have something good that awaits in heaven for us and that God has specially prepared it for us.
over last week and this week, i've known of 3 deaths. but despite the fragility of life, we know that we don't live for nothing. this gives us an extra reason to live meaningfully, doing things that will last and not material things that will fade and perish when we perish. do more of God's work so that we don't lead a wasted life and that we'll be ready to be called home to be with God anytime.
till then,
J.
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