Death - The Best Day Ever!

As a Christian, the day I die will be the best day I ever lived. But it won’t be the best day I ever will live. Resurrection day will be far better. – Randy Alcorn

What first comes to your mind when you read this quote? Do you truly believe that the day you die will be the best day you ever lived? When I first read it, it hit me like a ton of bricks. This short sentence puts in light how we should perceive this world, as a coming attraction to the main event, Heaven.

Our culture has become so inundated with how to live longer here that death has become something to be avoided at all costs, even in the Christian circles; when in reality it should not be feared, but accepted with excitement. You are about to see Jesus face to face and live the way you were meant to live. Plus, you will be with God, eternally without limitation to Him.

How would this change your view in working with the Terminally Ill, or any other person who had questions about death? I recently read a story of a little girl who had a terminal disease and her family explained it like this: Their young daughter was going to die of a terminal condition and she was afraid and upset. The parents had her go into another room by herself and then one by one they came through the door to meet her. They told her Heaven was going to be like this, that they would be coming up to meet her right after her and she would be there waiting for them.

For Christians, Heaven is not the end, but the beginning. When one of us goes there first, it is just that, and we will be able see each other again as the rest of our brothers and sisters in Christ come through the door. This for me, puts death into a whole new perspective, and even adds optimism to dying. We should not chase after death, but we also should not be afraid of it either. We should be more afraid of what this world will do to us, then what death can do, as death is only once and then eternity (except for poor Lazarus). Disease, sickness, broken families, heartache, earthquakes, tornadoes and many other calamities happen all the time in this world that will not be part of the next. Staying here in some ways is more depressing then dying and going home to be with the Father. Actually, in just about every way.

What Can Death Really do to Us? Death can be a painful thing physically and emotionally and is painful to those around them, even Jesus wept (John 11:35). Death though is the final pain, the last of the enemies to be defeated by Christ. 1 Cor. 15:25-26 says, “For Christ must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

Richard Baxter said, “If there be so certain and glorious a rest for the saints, why is there no more industrious seeking after it? One would think, if a man did but once hear of such unspeakable glory to be obtained, and believed what he heard to be true, he should be transported with the vehemency of his desire after it, and should almost forget to eat and drink, and should care for nothing else, but how to get his treasure. And yet people who hear of it daily, and profess to believe it as a fundamental article of their faith, do as little to mind it, or labor for it, as if they had never heard of any such thing, or did not believe one word they hear.”

How do we have an attitude of Heaven focused that leads to having no fear in death and believing that this is not our home and Heaven is, which in turns effects the way we live now?

1. We should be thinking about Heaven and learning what we can about it from Scripture and other solid authors, like Randy Alcorn and Peter Kreeft. This will keep us from getting sucked into the attacks of Satan and our sinful nature. “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:11-14).

2. If you are not looking forward to Heaven then what are you looking forward to, because as a Christian you should be. Anticipating Heaven will cause us to strive to live in light of where we plan on making our home.

3. Heaven should affect every area of our lives: activities, our ambitions, our pastime, our hobbies and our friends, what church we go to and how we spend our money. 1 John 3:3 says, “that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

4. Focusing on Heaven is not missing out on pleasure, but waiting instead for the real deal. It is finding joy in Christ and not the World. “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (Philippians 3:13-14).

5. “Remembering when you say here, ‘that it cannot get any better than this.’ It will.”—Randy Alcorn

Rev. 21:1-5, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

QUESTIONS TO ASK OURSELVES

1. Do I daily reflect on my own mortality?

2. Do I daily realize there are only two destinations—Heaven or Hell—and that I and every person I know will go to one or the other?

3. Do I daily remind myself that this world is not my home and that everything in it will burn, leaving behind only what’s eternal?

4. Do I daily recognize that my choices and actions have a direct influence on the world to come?

5. Do I daily realize that my life is being examined by God, the Audience of One, and that the only appraisal of my life that will ultimately matter is his?

6. Do I daily reflect on the fact that my ultimate home will be the New Earth, where I will see God and serve him as a resurrected being in a resurrected human society, where I will overflow with joy and delight in drawing nearer to God by studying him and his creation, and where I will exercise, to God’s glory, dominion his creation? Taken from Randy Alcorn’s book, Heaven, 470