Death

10 posts

The Lion of Judah: Our Peace and Hope

If we are to live a life that is wise, it is imperative that we understand we have an Enemy who attempts to discredit the wonders of God with counterfeit musings. This discrediting can take the form of misinterpreting the good things that God does. For example, as magnificent as a sunset may be, it is not the ultimate that God does. That ultimate is reserved for heaven and the new earth. But the enemy wants you to think that what you see now is all there is. Also, we have grown accustomed to seeing breathtaking imagery on the big screen. But even these images pale in comparison to the reality of the world that remains unseen to us. Plus, […]

Dark Saturday

Think about Saturday, the day after the crucifixion. This day was different. The trial, the crowds, the drama of Christ upon the cross was past. It was a dark Saturday. The disciples were overwhelmed. Judas was gone. The eleven and those close to them had spent three years with the most powerful person in all of human history. Try as they might they could not anticipate his next move or deed. Now, his calming presence was gone. It appeared their hopes and dreams had vanished before their eyes. The Roman leaders were relieved that this whole mess was behind them. But there was at least one Centurion who knew that a great wrong had been done. And, then there was […]

Till He Returns Or Calls Me Home

Christina Grimmie’s earthly voice ended abruptly, shockingly, this past Friday evening. She was signing autographs after a performance when a man shot her to death. Christina was perhaps the last person you would expect to be the target of a vicious gunman. Christina radiated purity and joy as she sang. Millions followed her on you tube where she recorded countless covers. Her presentations were made all the more powerful by their simplicity. Without any flashy backgrounds or special effects, her love of music quickly drew you in and made you a fan. You saw Christina singing and playing her keyboard with passion and grace against the background of images of the video games she loved to play. She was outspoken […]

Death and a Dark Saturday

Think about Saturday, the day after the crucifixion. This day was different. The trial, the crowds, the drama of Christ upon the cross was past. It was a dark Saturday. The disciples were overwhelmed. Judas was gone. The eleven and those close to them had spent three years with the most powerful person in all of human history. Try as they might they could not anticipate his next move or deed. Now, his calming presence was gone. It appeared their hopes and dreams had vanished before their eyes. The Roman leaders were relieved that this whole mess was behind them. But there was at least one Centurion who knew that a great wrong had been done. And, then there was […]

Thought for Easter

The stone was rolled away for you!   Matthew tells us that an angel from heaven came down in plain view of the soldiers who were guarding the sealed tomb.  The soldiers watched in shock as the angel rolled away the stone from the tomb and sat on it.     If we were there we would have expected to see Jesus walk out into the morning light. There was just one problem. The tomb was already empty.  Just as he could not be hindered from entering in a locked room, he could not be contained by the sealed tomb.   The stone was not rolled away so that Jesus could escape. It was rolled away so that you would […]

Death, like life, is not random

From time to time I will post some brief thoughts about the last 3 ½ years of my wife’s life. As many of you know, my wife, Ruth, was diagnosed with the most lethal form of brain cancer on April 1, 2010. Since that day, God has proven himself faithful beyond all that Ruth and I could ask or imagine. She went home at her Father’s call October 19th.    Ruth immediately turned to Psalm 139:16 as one of her anchors:   Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them,     the days that were formed for me,     when as yet there was none of them.   Some quick thoughts:   Ruth did not […]

What about those who didn’t know Christ?

In this series of posts on talking to your children about the death of one close to them, there is one aspect that was not specifically covered : how should the death of an unbeliever be discussed? This is an important consideration. Dan posted the following comment on a previous post: This post is very timely! My kids just lost their grandfather last week. I do not believe that he knew Christ. Any advice on dealing with this would be helpful and appreciated.

The God of all Comfort

This is the third and last post in this series on what to say to your children when someone close to them dies. The topic of death is challenging. But as Christians, we should not fear talking about it. Jesus Christ has won the victory over death. Our children must see that we have the faith and courage to actually live out this reality. This is the test of whether we live by faith or by sight. Our children know the difference. In order to comfort our children we must experience comfort ourselves. This is Paul’s message in his second letter to the Corinthians.

Talking about death with your children – part 2

In the last post we began discussing how to talk about death with your children. In that post we laid the foundation for thinking biblically about death and dying. Our culture attempts to avoid the reality of death by emphasizing the illusion of life without Christ. In 1 Timothy 6:19 Paul encourages us to take hold of life that is truly life. By implication, this means that there is life that is really not life at all, but death masquerading as life. It is this imposture of life that our culture worships. Thus, the culture focuses not on the life to come, but exclusively on life in the fallen world. The 21st century is unlike the 19th century in this […]

Talking about death to your children

Someone recently wrote in and asked how to talk with a young child who had just unexpectedly lost a close relative. This is a subject we have not yet specifically addressed in this blog, but it is a question that needs good biblical answers. The discussion must be addressed with gentleness and care. There are some things that can and should take place to prepare for this discussion. So, let’s start with laying a solid biblical foundation about life and death.