By Chris WittsFriday 24 May 2024Morning Devotions with Chris WittsDevotionsReading Time: 1 minute
Subscribe to Morning Devotions podcast
Transcript:
It was during an enjoyable holiday with my wife on board a cruise ship that I overheard a comment from a guy. I guess he was in his late fifties enjoying himself and his friends, and he certainly liked to be the centre of attention. We were sitting a few metres away from him and he was talking about life. He spoke about his success, his work, how important he was. And then he said, “I’ve enjoyed my life. And when it comes to an end, dead is dead. That’s it.” I was a bit taken aback; a bit surprised. Not that I haven’t heard that expression before. But it was the casual and upbeat way he said it. That caused me some concern.
Dead is dead, meaning once he died, it was all over for him. Now I tried not to stare at him, but I felt troubled. And I wanted to talk to him myself and say, Hey, you’re wrong. Death is not the end of your life. But of course, it wasn’t appropriate. And I never did see him again in the crowd of 3,500 passengers on this cruise ship.
It was a lost opportunity to offer this man another point of view. I guess on a serious matter – is death really the end? Has someone close to you died? Are you comfortable talking about death with your family and friends?
Death is an unavoidable subject
These are two important questions that we shouldn’t ignore because death is a reality. Children, they don’t think much about death unless they’re confronted with it in their early life or the family talks about it. But the stark reality is that every one of us will die one at a time. No exceptions. We have this disease that’s called mortality. Here in Australia, every single day, about 300 people will die.
And those who know say, about 6000 people will grieve the death of these people. Sad statistics, aren’t they? But they’re true. Do we take time to explain to our children what death is all about? Madonna, well known in the pop and contemporary world, was talking one day about her mother, who died when she was young, and she said, my mother’s death was just a big mystery to me when I was a child and no one really explained it.
My mother was really religious, so I never understood why she was taken away from us. It seems so unfair. I never thought she’d done anything wrong, so sometimes I’d wonder what I’d done wrong. Death is that mystery that puzzles many people. People who don’t believe in God or other higher beings may conclude that death really is the end. Ideas about divine justice and not really having to worry about death at all might be a comfort to religious people. But for atheists, that’s people who believe there is no God and some agnostics. They’re people who believe we cannot know whether God exists or not. They say there’s not enough evidence for believing in a life after death. Well, I want to say today the Christian faith is clear about this topic. Death is not the end of life. Our souls will live on forever.
Or, as Mother Teresa said, death is nothing else but going home to God. The bond of love will be unbroken for all eternity. So do you really believe that after 70, 80, 90 years, you’re just snuffed out to nothingness? I can’t see that making any sense at all. The Bible tells us the story of Lazarus who was a friend of Jesus found in John Chapter 11. He lived in a village called Bethany. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha. He was sick. He became gravely ill and his sisters were panicking. They called for Jesus to come, but he waited two days and Lazarus, in the meantime, died.
It would have been four days since Lazarus died that Jesus met up with the two sisters. They were very upset because they believed that Jesus could have done something. And he said to them, ‘your brother will live again’. What they didn’t know was that Jesus would perform an amazing miracle and bring Lazarus back from the dead. And then Jesus uttered these staggering words. I am the one who raises the dead to life. Everyone who has faith in me will live even if they die.
And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never die. These were the words of a Saviour – Jesus Christ, the Lord. So here is the answer to the death problem – faith in Jesus. Even death will not destroy you.
Let’s Pray
I thank you Lord, that you have not left us wondering what’s going to happen when we die. You have the words of life and eternal life and please would you help us to live in a positive sense, knowing that when our time has come, we will join you in eternity through Jesus Christ, our Lord, I pray, Amen.