April 5 (Easter Sunday) - INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE HEART

Pastor String La Guardia

The Day Death Died

What happened on easter Sunday?  It was the funeral of death itself - the day death died! (1 Cor. 15:54-55). We will be more alive than we are now when death comes. Because He lives, we too shall live forever. While resurrection is not yet, we still are faced with the reality of our mortality. 

One author and evangelist, named John Blanchard, puts it this way, “Death is no respecter of time or place. It has neither season nor parish. It can strike at any moment of day or night, on land, on the sea, or in the air. It comes to the hospital bed, the busy road, the comfortable armchair, the sports field, and the office. There is not a single spot on the face of the planet where it is not able to strike. The whole world is a hospital, and every person in it is a terminal patient. What we call living can be just as accurately called dying. As soon as a baby begins to live, it begins to die.”  

Indeed, death is inevitable. You are going to die, and I am as well. It’s coming faster than we think. But there is hope beyond the grave, there is life beyond the sunset. We look forward to that day that we shall be with the Lord forever with glorified bodies, for all eternity, where He will wipe every tear in our eyes. As we wait for that great day, we still have work to do here on earth. So while we have the opportunity let’s keep on serving the Lord, advancing His kingdom, preaching the Gospel and serving just like Jesus. 

1 Corinthians 15:58 (MSG) 

58 With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.

Paul says that because of the resurrection, nothing we do is useless. Knowing that Christ has won the ultimate victory should affect the way we live right now. Let us serve the Lord enthusiastically as we have opportunity—all for His glory. 

“At the end of our life's journey here, it's not DEATH who comes to snatch us away, but the risen CHRIST who comes to welcome us home.” (Dennis Ngien)