Living and Dying by Faith

It may seem strange, but of late, the topic of death has come up a lot in my life. For a while, my friend and I were even joking about it because in a span of less than a week, the idea of preparing for death came up four times in random ways. However, while taking it somewhat passively to begin with, I'm starting to think about it in a more serious light. We have no guarantee of tomorrow, and in all honestly, no matter how long we live, our time on earth is comparable to mere seconds in the span of eternity. Our lives are nothing more than a vapor.

Putting things into perspective even more, my best friend had to make an unexpected trip home this weekend as her sister-in-law's mother was in the hospital and in critical condition. Receiving a text from my friend yesterday evening saying that the woman had passed on and that watching someone die is awful, I started thinking through things more. My first though went to wanting to be with my friend in order to give her a hug and comfort her, but seeing as how that isn't possible, I started to pray for the family, asking that they find comfort and peace in the Lord.

Something I try to do every day is read both the 'Morning' and 'Evening' pages of the book Morning & Evening by C.H. Spurgeon. On a minor side-note, the book is an amazing investment! It's basically daily pages of meditation on scripture through Spurgeon's thoughts, a page each day to read in the morning and another to read each day at night. Usually I read 'Morning' first thing upon waking up and 'Evening' as the final thing I do before going to bed, however, today I was a little late in reading 'Morning' and then later in the afternoon reread it and also read 'Evening.' In light of what my dear friend's family is currently going through, I found both of today's devotionals to be very fitting.

This morning's opening sentences were,

"It is a sweet and blessed event which will occur to all believers in God's own time - the going home to be with Jesus. In a few more years the Lord's soldiers, who are now fighting, 'the good fight of faith', will have done with conflict, and have entered into the joy of their Lord."

Such true words from Spurgeon! Think of how wonderful that day will be when we are in glory with the Lord! However, we ought to be careful with how we handle that thought as well. Often we look at the trials before us and forget to truly rely on the Lord for His strength, desiring to go home for the sake of rest and retreat from the sufferings we face. In relevance to this, Spurgeon says.

"Now it is quite right to desire to depart if we can do it in the same spirit that Paul did, because to be with Christ is far better, but to wish to escape from troubles is a selfish one. Rather let your care and wish be to glorify God by your life here as long as He pleases, even though it be in the midst of toil, and conflict, and suffering, and leave Him to say when 'it is enough.'"

In this evening's reading from Spurgeon, he writes based around Hebrews 11:13. which is talking about how the many men and women of faith listed earlier in the chapter "all died in faith." About these amazing men and women, Spurgeon states,

"In faith they lived - it was their comfort, their guide, their motive and their support; and in the same spiritual grace they died, ending their life-song in the sweet strain in which they had so long continued. They did not die resting in the flesh or upon their own attainments; they made no advance from their first way of acceptance with God, but held to the way of faith to the end. Faith is as precious to die by as to live by."

Oh how I hope that one day the same can be said of me! In fact, if it be fitting of my life, as I truly hope it will be, I would be completely content to have this direct quote of Spurgeon's be read as my epitaph. I would consider it an honor to have such said of me.

For sure, death is not an easy subject to deal with, whether it be something you are facing yourself in your own life or in the life of someone you know, but if the one facing death is a follower of Christ, while mourning the loss of them is completely expected and natural, I think it's also important to keep in mind that in death, the child of God is taken from a world of sin and suffering to a home in glory with the Lord, and that is a thought worthy of joy and praise to the King.

Going back to Spurgeon's thoughts on the faithful mentioned in Hebrews 11, let me leave you with one last quote to ponder as you continue on in faith with the Lord while living for a time on this earth, our temporary home,

"Thy course, through grace, is one of faith, and sight seldom cheers thee: this has also been the pathway of the brightest and the best. Faith was the orbit in which these stars of their first magnitude moved all the time of their shining here; and happy art thou that it is thine, Look anew tonight to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith, and thank Him for giving thee like precious faith with souls now in glory."