On Life, Death and Beauty

Death....  It forces our attention to the irreducible minimality of life--the stark reality that often what we consider important in life is really not important at all.  A confrontation with death awakens us to the fact that the movies we have watched, the music we have listened to, the games we have played, all the things we have done out of a selfish motive have absolutely no value.  Two things become of paramount importance when death faces us.  First, our relationship with our Heavenly Father.  Second, the legacy we have left behind.

Death....  Its beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.  For those who squandered their life selfishly and wastefully, death is an ugly monstrosity--a beast to be feared and loathed.  For the Christian who has given his life completely to the Father and has endevoured to live selflessly and circumspectly, death is a beautiful creation.  Not a thing of bondage but a thing that frees us from mortality and introduces us to eternal life with those we love the most, first of whom is Christ, our Saviour.

Death....  It is the final step of our pilgrimage.  It is the vehicle that transports us to our final destination.  That destination is dependent upon the course we have chosen for our lives--essentially selfish or selfless.  In Philippians 3:20 Paul speaks a powerful message to Christians.

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.  (NLT)

We are citizens of Heaven!  That means that even though death is often portrayed as a thing of power, a thing of loneliness, a thing to be feared, as Christians, we need not fear.  We are citizens of Heaven.  Because of this our hearts may rejoice with Paul when he says,

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  (I Corinthians 15:53-57 KJV)

There is one last verse in that chapter that is a powerful encouragement and admonition.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.  (I Corinthians 15:58 KJV)

We labor not in vain!  Death has no victory!  The grave will hold only our mortality.

Death....  Its beauty really is in the eye of the beholder....