This Is Only the Beginning.

C.S. Lewis, speaking of what he called his ‘argument by desire’ and how it can drive us into the arms of the one true God, Jesus Christ, once said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”  I was made for another world.  And that other world— the real world— is waiting for us on the other side of the Door of Death.

According to the Message of the Messiah— a Message of Freedom and Grace, of forgiveness and hope— death is not the end, it is only the Beginning.  While it may be imminent and unavoidable to all but the final generation at the King’s Return, death is not the end because this world is not our home.  Author James Smith in his biography of Christian artist Rich Mullins said, “This understanding of death, instead of paralyzing him with fear, actually freed Rich to live, to try things without fear of failure, to let go of the things of this Earth and love people without expectations.  To live strongly and creatively, we must have firmly fixed in our minds that this life is not the end.”

In the rushed and hurried harangue of life lived in a World at War, I think we miss, especially as we get older, one of the most important things, and that is: the vast majority of our lives {including the best parts} are before us and not behind us.  The most ancient custom of the early Church was to celebrate in the life of a brother or sister, not the day of their birth but the day of their death.  Because they understood that death is our Birth-Day into glory, our entrance into the fullness and freedom of the Father’s World.  The ultimate reality for the Family of Faith is that spiritually we will never die.  “Do you believe this?” {Jn. 11:26b}.  It’s the same question Jesus asked Martha in John 11:26a after He said to her, “whoever lives [physically] and believes in Me will never die [spiritually].”

“Rumors of our death are greatly exaggerated.”  Thinking seriously about death as merely a change of residence from the temporal to the Eternal should lead us to a place of abundance, the freedom to live our lives with abandon, with curiosity and enthusiasm, and without fear.  In reality, what do we really have to lose?

You can see ‘em, day after day, believers in the Lord of Glory preparing to live {gathering up facts and figures, storehouses of knowledge to put into practice one day} rather than actually living and loving in the here and now!  We have one life to live for Christ our King and those He’s put within our periphery, and this day, this moment we are in will never be repeated.  So let your faith-awareness of death, and your triumph over it in Christ, not only free you to live… but free you to love.  In His holy and beautiful name.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296 | hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – where the Word and the Spirit are one.