On the Focus of Death

I had the privilege of speaking with someone yesterday of whom I carry great respect for in every way. Though, the topic of death was brought up, and even in that, it was in an odd way. The person made the statement to me:

“I thought of heaven the other day. I do not think I have ever really thought about heaven, you know? It has always been something that I assumed would happen, but never a reality of sorts. And then, I realized that someday I will die, and all that has been promised to me will either come true – or not. I have never really thought of my death. It seems wrong for me to do so, but it hit me quite hard. So much that I had to stop doing whatever it was that I was doing and think. It scared me. Is that weird?”

The question was directed at me along with a much more personal question. The “is that weird,” comment is what I want to focus on along with the rest of our conversation. This is something that I think is very, very important in a Christian’s life, and something that most would find themselves confused on. Let’s begin.

Should we think of death? I mean, that is the real question here. Is it morbid? Should we stay away from it? Doesn’t the Bible speak of thinking of only pure things? All these kinds of questions get bounced around and settle at the feet of, “let’s just not talk about it.” This kind of attitude is wrong and leads to the kind of experience that my friend had. The experience that they had was not bad, but that they were confused by it. Why is it that there are so many issues never touched by books, pastors, or any leader? I digress.

So, should we think about death? Yes and no. Yes in that “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”)Ecc.7:8, and no in that we hang a negative connotation on death, and focus on things that vex our spirit is not wise. But where is the line? (and stay with me on this, it gets good) The line is drawn in our own understanding. If we never think about it, we will never understand and if we never understand, then we will never truly have the joy that we should. “What!? Did you say “joy”? How is there joy in thinking about death? I mean, I get it, we die and go to heaven, but there is so much I want to still do on earth.”

It baffles me sometimes how Christians make it through a day. It really does. If we never think about death, we miss one of the biggest, sweetest concepts in our lives as Christians. The Bible says "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18). "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen—for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Weight! Do you see that?

The person I spoke with understood none of this. Not even a little bit, but there is an entire passage describing how amazing it is. How have we been hiding this? It’s like a robbery of joy on the part of leadership. We think about death because as Christians, death holds the promise of heaven: an end to the separation between us and our God; the beginning of us being together, bride and groom, for eternity. It is the end of something that begins another.

We strive and strive in this life to find happiness, yet we see none. We blame God for not placing those things in our life so that we can have joy, but He has! 2 Cor says that outward man perish, yet the inward is renewed day by day. Are you being renewed? Do you even know how to do so? It also says that these Small afflictions, a litotes, used to make a huge contrast. You see, this weight that is spoken of is made so great by these trials we face on earth, but they are nothing in the magnitude of this weight. What is this weight?

It is called the “eternal weight of glory.” Or, in other words, heaven. I love the translation here: weight. What a perfect word. When I was in college I was driving back from the beach (tough I know) and I was feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders and I just didn’t know if I was going to make it through, but then a thought hit me and my weight became another kind of weight. I realized that at the end of this long “workday” we call life, we have the respite of heaven to look forward to. From that day forward I have carried with me the weight of heaven on my shoulders, and let me tell you, it is the greatest weight I have ever bared.

When life has got me down and these light afflictions cause me great distress, I rest in the fact that heaven is my home, and there is nothing better than that. Someday I will have no more despair; only joy. This is one of the greatest ways to renew myself. I struggle all day long, but then I remember, this will not always be. I will someday be home.

This also encourages me to work to find those that do not have this peace nor this promise. We should want to share this joy. I think that if we would actually share our joy, which seems to be a rarity in Christianity, we would have much better results in witnessing. Let it show!
And as for my friend, this is what I told them:

“You need to take those opportunities, and that is what they are, and focus in on what you really have in Jesus. Death, in principle, should not scare you. But if you do not understand what it is that we have in death through Christ Jesus, then you are missing out on one of the greatest portions of joy in our life. And one more thing, I think God sends us those points in life that we truly reflect on who we are and how fragile life can be. If we always live our lives like we do every day, which is in a fantasy world, we may never be able to understand what it is like to ask someone else to do the same things. If you haven’t ever thought about what would happen to you if you died tomorrow, how can we expect someone else to do so if we respond with, “I don’t like to do that.” Maybe that is a larger cause for concern for your own soul.”