You will die one day. This body that you live in will soon deteriorate, grow old, die, rot and turn to dust. If there is anything we loathe it's the thought of death. We dye our hair, buy anti wrinkle cream, work out at the gym and paint our faces to hide the signs of age on our bodies. Even at funerals we dress the deceased in their finest clothes and pay thousands of dollars to have our loved ones look as living as possible. Celebrities go under the knife to give the allusion of youth and woman refuse to say their age. All in an attempt to remain young and beautiful forever.
But all this cannot change the fact that you and I have a 100% chance of dying. Does the thought of you dying offend you?
There was a time in the life of the Church when the people of God were encouraged to think about their own death. Jonathan Edwards resolved, "to think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death." Another Puritan told his congregation to "Meditate much on the solemnity of death, the certainty of judgment day, and the vastness of eternity". What did they understand that we have forgotten? What drove them to want to think upon their own death?
They believed that the foundation of the Christian's peace and joy is everlasting and one day will be made evident. They beloved in the visio beatifica, the blessed vision; the sight that only angels are privy to-the visio Deo! The vision of God. They believed that all the wrongs of time would be made right, all their suffering would cease, all their striving would come to an end and they would see God face to face. And to see God is what they were living for.
Father, in Christ death itself has had its sting removed. My whole life is taken up with the great hope and expectation that one day, after I have taken my final breath on earth, I will see You face-to-face.
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