Skip to main content

Death is Conquered!



Do you, like me, struggle with chronic illness? That living death? The daily torment. The minutes, hours, days, weeks and months swallowed up and wasted, alone in your bed? Living only parts of your life…never at full capacity…no hope that you ever will again?
The good news: Christ has risen. He has conquered death. While you may suffer for a little while, Christ has conquered the death that lives in your bones, and in your new body, you will have vitality. The lame will leap for joy.

Have you received a scary diagnosis, one that makes your future uncertain and dire? You don’t know what is on the horizon…. You don’t have control of any of the outcomes, no matter how courageous you seek to be. You want to be there for those you love, but you know it’s God who holds your life in His hands. The good news: Christ has conquered death. He has conquered disease. Nothing you suffer now can be compared to the glory that is to be revealed to you. You will be healed. This suffering will not be wasted. God is in control, even when chaos is still, for a time, allowed to continue. Death is conquered.

Have you lost someone? Is your grief consuming? Are you bowed down and confused? When comfort is gone, and God seems far, take heart: Christ has conquered death. I know this can sound empty, as you stand by the side of a grave. For you, death has won, and they are gone. But Christ has conquered the grave. He has risen, and with Him, all those who belong to Him will rise. For a time, more grief will consume…but one day, He will wipe away your tears, and there will be no more pain. There will be everlasting light, and no more darkness. All the questions will rest in God, and He will be the lifter of your head.

Are you lost or alone? Lost in despair, or apathy, or anger, or addiction, or sin, or unexplainable pain? Are you in mental anguish? Do you have broken relationships? Are you broken, and don’t even know how to do relationships? Do you question the purpose of your life? Do you wonder if you have any worth? Does shame swallow you, never ceasing its grip on you? Do you long for meaning, or motivation, or strength? The good news: Christ has conquered death…even the death that plagues your soul. He frees the slave. He makes you whole. He gave Himself up, so that you would know the fulfillment of joy in Him. You are made whole.

Future Hope and the Hope We Have Now:

Christ’s conquering the grave feels very much like a future hope. And it’s a beautiful, glorious future hope that we can cling to in the worst of days. But the reality continues to be that many of us can still feel hopeless right NOW. What does that future hope mean for us today? Yes, Jesus has conquered death. We will have new bodies. But to what will we be resurrected? Why will we be resurrected? And this is the hope that can ground us today: we are resurrected unto a perfect communion with Christ. That special communion that Christ has with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Yes! Even now, Christ is in us, and we are in Him. Yes! We will one day enjoy that most precious relationship that Christ now enjoys in the Holy Godhead (not that we become God…but will enjoy that perfect communion with God)! Unmarred by sin. And while this perfect communion with Christ is still future, we are given the Holy Spirit NOW. He is our comforter. He dwells in us. He sanctifies us, making us set apart for God. He is always with us, and never leaves us. Even when we feel alone, we are never alone. We are not orphans. We belong to Christ, and He belongs to us.

You are seen. You are beloved. You are cherished. You are treasured. You are not alone. You are in the shelter of God’s wings. You have a glorious Helper, indwelling you NOW. You have peace with God NOW. God looks at you, and declares you RIGHTEOUS. You are KEPT in God. You are GUARDED. You will not be given over to the evil one. You are not of this world, and God is sanctifying you in the truth. You have the Word of God to COMFORT and GUIDE you. You share in the glory of God. You are being made one with all those who belong to Christ. Jesus KNOWS you. He LOVES you. His love DWELLS in you. The Father LOVES you. No matter what you feel today or how you feel today, these truths are immovable. You are NOT alone. God is there, and He is WITH you.

May the Lord have mercy on all who are weary and heavy-laden. May he be the rest for our souls.

Passages that console the soul:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
…The helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” ~John 14:15-20; 25-27

“All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” ~John 17:10-26

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Spiritual Battle for My Soul (learn from my near disastrous path to darkness):

After my dear, sweet friend was murdered, I got very lost. I nearly lost my soul.  I pursued a terrifying road to hell.   Grief is always intense, a drowning sensation, an end that is impossible to accept. But in this instance, grief was mingled with profound betrayal. The murderer was also my friend. He was a pastor. I was part of his wedding party. We served in ministry together. He was one of the first to encourage my own relationship with Sony. He was like a little brother. When he was sick, I made soup for him. We laughed together, we sang together, we lived next door to one another. I always had some concerns about him, and he knew it. He often found me glaring at him for this or that childish behaviour. But we laughed about that too. I was protective of the girls, and he knew it. He was part of my main friend group. And he betrayed all of us. All of us…and most of all, her and his own baby. In this case, grief was mingled with confusion. I thought he wa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is the Word 'Woke' Helpful in our Engagement with Others?

I’ve always been taught the importance of words and their meanings. I remember my Dad expressing frustration when I flippantly used the word ‘awesome’ as a teenager. This particular word has a glorious meaning, a meaning that my Dad cherished. And my use of the word made it meaningless! He was offended because ‘awesome’ is how God is described. His desire for me was to preserve this word for God, who is holy.  For my dad, awesome meant: “Arousing or inspiring awe; that fills someone with reverential fear, wonder, or respect.” (Oxford English Dictionary) For me, as a teenager, I used the word awesome to describe even the most mundane things. If someone spilled their drink all over their white shirt, I might sarcastically remark: ‘Well, isn’t that awesome?’ Or if someone belched really loudly, I might have said: ‘Awesome!’ I used the word 'awesome' constantly as a teen, but I rarely used this word in the way it was intended to be used.  I confess, I still sometimes use the word ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Plight of Christendom in this Unsettled Moment

I have engaged in more political conversations over the last few months than I have ever done in my life. I keep asking myself ‘why?’. I am not really a political creature. Sadly, I understand more about American politics than I do Canadian politics. I lived in the States for a little while, and I learned a lot more than I expected. People are more political in the States, and I learned by listening to others in discussion. I don’t have as many of these conversations here in Canada. I confess, as a Canadian, I don’t usually know who or what I am voting for when I vote. My life is spent in other spaces. I do a quick glance at the platforms, and I vote. I often don’t watch any of the debates. Life is overwhelming, and trying to figure out what is happening in politics is often something I would not normally prioritize. I suspect most of my friends function like this too. So why am I engaging this so much right now? It started because this year I did want to know who I am vot...
Post a Comment
Read more