Today’s Devotion
Topic: A Better Place Beyond The River
Text: Job 3: 17-19
17 There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest. 18 Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout. 19 The small and the great are there, and the slaves are freed from their owners. Amen
Today, we find the courage to talk about death, just to encourage anyone going through the terrible loss of a dear one, and struggling to understand why God would allow a horrible thing as death to happen to anyone at all, in the first place.
Beloved, although death is a reality of life and the Bible talks extensively about it, the modern day believer does not want to hear the sound of it, and treats it as the unfortunate thing that the devil brings upon people.
But you see, much as the above is possible if a person makes him/her self vulnerable for demonic attacks by refusing to seek covering in Christ Jesus, death as a reality of life actually is no respecter of persons. Neither does it announce its intended visitation prior to the actual visit. It stalks the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated alike. It is no respecter of race, colour or creed. And like all living things, we all may have to go through death to make eternity (unless the rapture meets us earlier).
But wait! Does that make death a pleasant thing — just because it’s a reality of life? Certainly not for any grieving or bereaving family who are dealing with the loss of a dear one, and the irreplaceable vacuum he/she has left behind. However, to those who have died in Christ, death is gain according to Scripture — a very blessed gain beyond measure.
They transit from all of earth’s toils and sufferings to a place where “the weary are at rest. Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.” They will spend eternity with the Lord in glory until eternity ends and starts all over again.
Those of us living have a divine assignment to preserve life until the Master calls us. That is why we are encouraged to practice godliness and a healthy lifestyle so that we may prolong our stay here on earth as the Lord wills. We also nurture a glimmer of hope that medical Science may discover something new that will keep us alive a little longer. However, when our life’s purpose in Christ is over, and He should call us to glory, it shall be a call to a better place and a greater gain for all our toils here in earth.
Be therefore encouraged; you who have lost a dear one. Be encouraged in the Lord that we shall meet them again across the river where we will spend eternity with our King forever in the new Jerusalem — where there will be no more sorrow, crying and pain.
Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11: 25- 26). That’s how we know there is life after this life.
Therefore, “feel free” to mourn a dear one who has passed. Mourn their absence, but don’t grieve too much for those who died in the Lord. They have a better place now. Their departure should rather make us ponder about our own lives as we ask the Lord to “teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Ps 90:12)
For, “it is appointed unto man once to die, afterwards- Judgement (Heb 9:27). We cannot ever forget that!
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