He's Been Set Free

“…those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint…It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Isaiah 40:31; Galatians 5:1)

Until last Saturday, I had not had to deal with the death of a sibling. Now I have…my oldest brother Dee has been set free. Pondering our relationship over the years there are some regrets for not spending more time with him, but I keep coming back to the last conversation we had on the phone the day before. We planned on spending the next day together and the last words exchanged between us was just what he knew I needed to hear and what he wanted to hear back from me…

Dee: “See you tomorrow, love you”

Me: “Look forward to it, love you too big brother”

Regrets are real, but love covers a multitude of sins.  Dee and I will still see each other tomorrow, that was our mutual faith and hope. And we both knew Yogi was right when he quipped “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over”.

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see

My chains are gone
I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace

See you soon big brother when we rise together to soar “like eagles” and meet "the Lord in the air"...

“We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)

We Don't Really Know Him Yet

“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)

Some have made this verse something to be attained in this life. But to me it is just a simple statement of our “hope” for the next. Like Paul

“I want to know Christ…” – I will really know Jesus only when I meet him face to face in...

“…the power of his resurrection…” – Just as Jesus experienced the power of the resurrection, so too I am to be resurrected, and will see Jesus face to face having experienced...

“…the participation in his sufferings…” – This participation of his sufferings occurs when I die and have become...

“…like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

Only then, after my death and resurrection, will I really “know him”.

As for the present, well...

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known…” having faith that “...those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint….” (1 Corinthians 13:9-12; Isaiah 40:31)

Cremation Is OK

I have a friend who asked if cremation was biblical. There is no law in the bible on how we must dispose of a dead body.  However, a dead body is clearly something that was to be quickly dealt with. Even touching it made the Jew unclean…obviously for sanitary reasons.

Jewish rabbis and Christian theologians have argued about cremation for centuries…that is what they are paid to do.  But if one would just use common sense we would all reach the same conclusion. It is OK with God.

Early in Genesis, when the dying process was pronounced upon mankind, God said…

“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." (Genesis 3:19)

God does not care how that is accomplished, in my opinion, but eventually the body must “return” to dust. And that is where common sense comes in, which sometimes is the opposite of religious teaching and ritual. 

What is the fastest way to get a dead body back to dust (ashes)?  Yep, cremation.  And for that matter, putting a dead body in a coffin to protect it from returning to the ground from which it was "taken" slows the process of God’s intent. 

So, for me, I have instructed my wife and kids to have me cremated and put my ashes back into the "ground" as soon as possible to complete the will of God and save them some money.

Religious tradition is very important to some folks, and so if you prefer the traditional method, by all means, that is OK too.  But even the most expensive vault around a coffin will not prevent the body from its eventual “return” to dust in the “day of the Lord”….assuming you believe the bible.

“…and it will come -- the day of the Lord -- as a thief in the night, in which the heavens with a rushing noise will pass away, and the elements with burning heat be dissolved, and earth and the works in it shall be burnt up.” (2 Peter 3:10)

And on that cheerful note I bid you adu with something more encouraging…

“And the multitude of those sleeping in the dust of the ground do awake…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor” (Daniel 12:2: Isaiah 61:3)