I can remember the exact details, the smells and where I was when that phone call came that everyone dreads, “Mr. Drake, your son has been in an accident, and we need your consent for surgery.” My Dad was an extremely tough, strong guy but I remember vividly, the ashen look on his face as he hung up the phone and told my Mom that my brother Barry had been in a car accident and they needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. My brother died an hour later. Years ago my sister died of cancer. In the realm of pain and suffering, death certainly ranks near the top. Maybe you have received similar phone calls. The loss of our life or the loss of someone we love is generally considered one of life’s greatest experiences of pain and suffering.
Followers of Christ can experience the genuine sadness that actually accompanies the death of a loved one from a different viewpoint. They can even look at their own death from a completely different perspective. The Apostle Paul wrote to some Christians who had experienced the death of a few of their friends. He told them that he does not want them to “grieve like the rest of men who have no hope” (I Thessalonians 4:13) Notice here that he did not tell them not to grieve, but rather grieve from a rich vantage point of hope. Do I miss my brother and sister? Sure, but I know because of their relationship with Christ that one day we will be reunited and “live with the Lord forever” (I Thessalonians 4:17) The promise of eternal life completely change our view of death. For the Christian it is a beginning rather than an ending. This prompted the apostle Paul to write, “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where O death is your sting?”(I Corinthians 15:54b-55)
The truth of eternal life caused the apostle Paul to look at his own death a gain. He wrote to the church at
The truth of eternal life will not only change our view of death, it will also help followers of Christ gain a different perspective about our suffering here on earth. The grandeur and a life spent with God forever can make the temporary nature of our sufferings on earth seem different to us. Paul wrote “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we a wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal”(II Corinthians 4:16-18) Paul also wrote “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us”(Romans 8:18). So the apostle Paul, who experienced tremendous suffering in his life, helps us to see the pain and difficulty we experience here on earth from a different vantage point.
The Bible doesn’t give us a lot of detail about what happens after we die, but it does give us two really important facts:1) there is life after death, and 2) followers of Christ will go to a place of unspeakable joy and experience life with God that will last forever. Death is not the end. Jesus said, “I am going there (heaven) to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14: 2-3)
How will an eternal perspective help me change my thoughts about life and suffering?
Read John 14:1-14
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