When death comes, those of us who are living are never thankful for it.
1 Corinthians 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Okay, to be honest, death isn’t something that would fall into the normal thankful list. In fact, anyone who has lost loved ones will think I am crazy for being thankful for death.
And maybe they’re right.
To be real honest, I’m not at all thankful for losing any of my loved ones. The dark angel brings loss and sorrow to those left behind. I miss those who have died, and yet….
For the Christian, death is the line between mortal and immortal life.
This life isn’t easy, most of the time it’s the opposite of easy. We live in a fallen world, with failing bodies. For the Christian, we know that someday we will exchange these weak, failing bodies for the perfection of an immortal body.
The physical death of our bodies simply means we have passed from mortal, to eternal, and that’s where I find I can be thankful. I wouldn’t want to live in this world forever; it would be miserable to say the least. I am thankful that someday, physical death will end my time on earth and begin my time in eternity with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
For the Christian, physically dying means the beginning of eternal life. Because of the the sacrifice of Christ, our physical death can no longer hold power over us. Death has lost it’s sting.
So, I am thankful for death on these grounds:
#1 I am thankful for the death of Jesus Christ, because through his death I have eternal life.
#2 I am thankful for the fact that my physical death with be the beginning of my eternal life.
#3 I am NOT thankful when the grim reaper takes my loved ones. However, I can always be thankful when I know that death for them is only the beginning of their eternal life.
I agree with you. And as sad as we are we need to be thankful that our loved ones whom we know are believers in Jesus Christ – are in a much better place. (And those who aren’t – we need to do our best to pray for them and be witnesses to them.)
My mother died almost 7 years ago and I miss her all the time. Things I want to tell her about, questions I want to ask her – how did you used to cook this or that, etc. Thankfully while in high school, I had mom help me as I wrote out many of her recipes. Of course, I had to have her help because she seldom used a recipe and as for how much of this or that, she just knew & everything always tasted great.
But I realized that as much as I missed her, she was now no longer in pain and was now rejoicing in Heaven.
I’m sorry about your mother. I know it’s wonderful that she is with the Lord, but our pain here is very real too. Thank you for stopping by and commenting!