YOU’RE MOVING TOWARDS HIS LIFE, NOT YOUR DEATH
When we think of dying, especially the process of it, death becomes to us that black shadow that eventually swallows our life. But God actually said it was the opposite! Notice 2 Corinthians 5:4—
“For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”
From God’s perspective, our dying bodies are being swallowed up by his life! Yes, for the believer, death is actually the event when what is mortal is actually being swallowed up by what is eternal. In other words, eternal life is actually taking over temporal life. We’re truly moving from being barely clothed to fully clothed. From gradually dying to eternally living. From groaning to glory. Could it actually be that God’s life comes to us in its fullest when our life ends in its frailty and finality?
I admit this is mind-boggling. I hardly have the capacity or emotion to think of dying like the Scriptures describe here. Yet, I stare at the wonderful, God-inspired words in this verse and melt with awe at what God is actually doing in that most dreaded moment of our last breath: He is swallowing our death with his life. Astounding!
May you be utterly astounded, too, as you ponder this, realizing you’re not getting one step closer to your death. You’re moving one step nearer to God’s life.
Pastor Todd