Hope That Transcends Death

Many of us live our lives with little thought for the future.  We assume that we will never have to walk that lonely road that leads into forever.   We see people dying everyday.  We see sickness, accidents, and nature taking away even friends and family, but we never come face to the face with the reality that one day we will not be here.

How can we look at the inevitable demise of our earthly existence?   I am glad that the Apostle reminds us that when we look at death, whether others or our own, we do not have to fear as others fear and have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).   For there is another kingdom that we will have on the other side.   The Apostle reminds us that death itself shall be swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54).

And if death "shall be" swallowed up in victory, then we need not fear death even today.  We need not allow death and the fear of it to keep us from living the lives that God has given us to live.  We should not allow fear, which will be totally defeated, to beat us.  If we simply beieve what God has said, then all of our todays can be lived in light of this reality.  We can seek to love when loving hurts, for our greatest foe, death, has already been defeated.  If we simply believe this truth, then we can work when working is dangerous, for our greatest foe has been vanquished.  If we would belive this, then we can hope again even when it doesn't look like we have anything to hope for, becuase if death has been defeated, then why can'twe assume that God will work in God's own time to take care of the other lessor entities.