 Having said goodbye to my sweet mom this week I find it very difficult to put into words what it is like to watch a precious loved one take their final breath. Without a doubt, I felt the arms of God wrapped around me like a warm blanket. His love and indescribable peace have transcended my understanding. Thankfully so because there is so much I don’t understand. But I hold fast to what I do understand and trust Him with what I don’t. Though we often say “dying is a part of living” or it is “the natural cycle of life,” in all honesty dying wasn’t meant to be a part of living and biblically speaking it is not part of God’s “natural” order of things. Since sin entered the world death has been a necessary part of our existence, but never a welcomed one. The scriptures refer to it as an enemy. This is why our bodies fight against death and why saying goodbye is so painfully hard. The body was made for life and the spirit for the body. We were designed for eternity; therefore, we have an inherent distaste for death and the separation it brings. This is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:4, “For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.” Notice he says, “Not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed” It is entirely unnatural for the spirit to be separated from the body. We don’t ache for a departure, but rather we long for mortality to be swallowed up in life. Today “He has Risen” is an even sweeter treasure to me personally. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:22 We all must pass through death's doorway, but thanks be to Jesus He has taken the sting out of death and has promised us an eternity without its haunting presence. We who have received His gift of eternal life no longer live in its terror (Heb. 2:15) knowing there is so much more in store on the calendar after death: face to face with Jesus, Resurrection Day, ruling and reigning with Christ for a thousand years, new heavens and a new earth, joy and the pleasures of God forevermore. Jesus has made it ALL possible- so today I celebrate and revel in His outstanding victory! He is my true Champion who endured the horrors of the cross to secure all the spoils of eternities pleasures and offer them freely to me. It is Finished! He has Risen! Peace to you! “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed” Revelation 21:4
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 Lisa Cook
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