This I believe as a Christian… DEATH DOES NOT END IT ALL!!
As a Christian it is not birth > life > death (with a big period at the end). It is instead birth > life (and somewhere in there NEW BIRTH > then more life! Abundant life! > death > and ETERNAL LIFE! Death is NOT the end … it is simply the doorway (and a step if you please) into an incredible and eternal future with the Lord!!
Thought about all of that as I read these wonderful, inspired words of Apostle Paul this morning telling us about our future as Christ’s followers (whether we are living or have died) when Jesus returns…
“Listen, I tell you a mystery! We will not all sleep [die], but we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “DEATH HAS BEEN SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY! Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Apostle Paul argued that all of that was incredible motivation for the following…
”Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain!”
As a Christian I have a wonderful confidence and hope (beyond the grave… past death)! I want to live life full – giving myself to the Lord’s will and work!! I want the sound of my service for Jesus to blend with the piercing sound of the “last trumpet”!!
Coffee With The Lord 