THE STING OF DEATH?

   Photo by Ricardo Gomez on Unsplash.

It’s that time of the year!
Did you ever wonder why the leaves of trees turn such beautiful colors in the Fall?

The leaves are experiencing death and it’s beautiful.
The tree itself lives to see another day.

So it is with us!  Our outer self, our physical body will die, but our spirit will live on.

Isn’t God trying to tell us something?  That death can be beautiful?  That death is not the end.              

Are you a ‘whoever’?  
‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16. 
A whoever believes and has eternal life!  And their mortal body will be replaced with an imperishable, immortal body upon their death!  Now that’s beautiful!
And the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?  Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ 1 Corinthians 15:54-57.

‘We know that a ‘whoever’ will be raised by the Lord Jesus from the dead.  He will also raise (them) with Jesus and present (them) to himself.  All this is for (their) benefit, so that the grace that is reaching so many people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, (like the dying leaves), yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.’ 2 Corinthians 4:14-16. 

We know that a ‘whoever’ is ‘always confident, knowing that while they are at home in the body, they are absent from the Lord.  For we walk by faith, not by sight.  We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.’ 
2 Corinthians 5:6-8. 

Did you hear that incredible, beautiful news?  When a believer dies, they are instantly in Gods presence.  INSTANTLY!

And this is hope, ‘the anchor for the soul, firm and secure.’ Hebrews 6:19

‘Hope’.  It’s the one thing that you and I cannot live without!  Pastor Charles Swindoll.

‘Our world today so desperately hungers for hope, yet uncounted people have almost given up.  There is despair and hopelessness on every hand.  Let us be faithful in proclaiming the hope that is in Jesus’.  Billy Graham. 

Do you have this hope?  Are you a ‘whoever’?  If so, your death, like the tree leaves in the fall will be BEAUTIFUL!  ‘Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants.’ Psalm 116:15. 

STING

She lay in the bed 
Of the pickup
Embracing her dying dog
Alone
The inevitable coming

Not willing to face the pain
The sting of death
She waits

We all wait with her
For that inevitable end
But the sting of death is gone
Because He has come.                 MRB.

I’LL BE 80 IN TWO DAYS!!!!!!!