Death is around the corner

Death is around the Corner

Perhaps the greatest sorrows that the living have when loved ones pass on is that they didn’t get to say, I’m sorry, I love you or good bye.

Every man and woman just as I have will arrive at an age when a large number of their friends, relatives, neighbors and peers will die. The thought of death has gotten me to thinking about what life is all about. Surely, life is not about leaving all I have accrued to my children who will squander it on foolishness. Nor is life about the great things I have done, because living is not all about my life, but about my relationships with other people. Perhaps the greatest sorrows that the living have when loved ones pass on is that they didn’t get to say, I’m sorry that I love you or good bye.

During my life I have had more enjoyment with my family and friends than the work that I have accomplished or the books and short articles I have written. It’s not that the work wasn’t interesting or I didn’t have fun, it just seems so unimportant when I consider the next phase of my life. What is going to happen after my body stops breathing and my family is left with the funeral.

I have found out that no one wants to think about death even when his or her death is slowly creeping upon their lives or when they have one foot in the grave waiting for the inevitable. One fact about death is that no one has ever escaped its grasp. What frightens people more about death is that they don’t have peace with God or the people they leave behind to be ready for life in the hereafter.

Paul wrote that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and in another place that it was appointed once for man to die then the judgment. God has not been silent about the issue of death. Rather he is openly saying that man is destined to die and then he will decide the eternal reward or punishment that each person deserves.

Most men understand that God created man from the dust of the earth followed by breathing the breath of life into the man he had formed. What does this all mean? The body was made from the dust of earth and after death the body returns dust. The breath of life or the spirit and intellect of man that governs the body will return to God to be judged according to the deeds that the spirit told the body to do.

I have noticed that men are completely aware that God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it. However, life becomes a fantasy when men are so focused on their own life that they do not realize that nothing was ever created without a purpose. So I am forced to ask, what is God’s purpose for creating mankind and where do I fit into his overall plans?

What is life all about when the wisest man who ever lived says everything is meaningless? What benefit have I derived from living? I have become like Solomon who has experienced life and thinks it pointless to toil all your life and not enjoy the fruit of your labor. Although you came into the world with nothing and accrued a lifetime of treasures you must leave everything behind. Everything may be meaningless but God had a reason for creating mankind.

I have tried to understand God’s reasoning only to learn that God is the beginning and the end of life. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth but at the end the age the Earth will be destroyed by fire. On that day, God will send his angels throughout the world to collect the living and the dead, as mankind will be summoned before the throne of God.

We are in the age of grace during the time that God has given man the right to choose between life and death. By God’s grace we can make peace with God by searching for God’s plan and putting his plan into effect. In learning God’s plan we find out that God demands a high standard of behavior from his children. Those who have accepted Christ and adopted God’s holy standards will be accepted into his kingdom. However, God has reserved a place of torment especially for those who do not respect him or his authority, neglect God, defies his commands and do as they see fit. Isn't it time for each of us to understand what life is all about?

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