Psalm:116:13-18
"13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful servants.
16 Truly I am your servant, Lord;
I serve you just as my mother did;
you have freed me from my chains.
17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,"
With the recent passing of Dr. Charles Stanley, I began to recount the heroes of my faith who have preceded me into the presence of the Savior. It is always a bit of a tough time and I feel the same pangs of hurt as I recall people who were precious to me during my time with them.
Yet, this scripture always calls to me when I begin to think about those that I have lost. It both calms my spirit and fires up my desire for holiness. I hope after this you will understand why.
You may ask, "how does this scripture calm your spirit when you are thinking of those that you have lost?"
The answer is found in verse 15 where is talks about a reality that we rarely address in the Christian community: "What is death to God?" As believers, who follow after The Way, we claim to attempt to follow God and to see things as He sees them, so it is vital that we ask ourselves this question.
In the end, the only Biblical answer we can find is that to God, death is nothing more than the beginning of eternity. Where we see death as the end, God sees death as the beginning. Where we see death as separation, God sees it as reunification with those who preceded them. Where we see death as lost potential, God sees death as a step toward the New Heaven and Earth where that potential is limitless and eternal.
Why then do we weep?
Because as much as we can understand how God sees it, we cannot see it that way, not fully. As Paul writes, now we "see through a glass." This distortion makes the separation painful for us, and that is why the second part of this scripture speaks so clearly to me when it says, "I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people."
I give all I can to fulfill my vow, I do all I can to live a holy life, I will keep the covenant of Messiah as given by Him, and the apostles who followed, I will live a life similar to that of the Saints of old so that when it is my turn to meet the God of the Universe, I will be able to join those who have gone before in worship and as part of the new creation.
I do not have to sit around a lament, I have a job to do, I have a Gospel to give, and I have something to work toward, and it is the same thing that those who went before me endeavored to do.
So, let us feel sad. Let us mourn the passing of a great man of God. Yet let us not allow that sadness to separate us from the duty that he strove to fulfill. Afterall, I can think of no greater testament to the work and mission of a man of God than to know that others will come behind to pick up the work and carry the mission forward.
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