Good Morning Friends,
Several years passed after the people of
Israel crossed the Jordan River into the land of Canaan. Joshua led the people
for many years and then he summoned all the leaders of Israel and said to them,
“I am old and well advanced in years.” (Joshua 23:2)
It was time for Israel to prepare itself for
new leadership. Like Moses before him, Joshua would not be able to lead the
people of Israel forever. Joshua approached the end of his life with a calm confidence.
He told them, “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth.” (Joshua 23:14)
We fear death. There is probably no deeper
fear that man has. But death is a natural part of life and it comes to every
living being. There is no reason to dwell on death and embrace it before its time.
But when the time comes for our life to be over, we should be able to approach
death with the same kind of calm confidence with which Joshua approached it.
Paul talked to the Thessalonians about death
and told them, “we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep,
or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
The Apostle John heard a voice from heaven
that said, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’
says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow
them.’” (Revelation 14:13)
In Christ, we can approach death, for
ourselves and for those we love, with calm confidence, with grief that is
mingled with hope, and with the assurance that death is not the end, but a blessing
of rest and the beginning of real life.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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