"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing," 2 Timothy 4:7-8.
My precious grandfather, affectionately known as "Pappy," escaped to Heaven on Saturday after a year-long battle with various illnesses. Of course my family and I will miss him and of course saying goodbye to him at his funeral this past weekend brought tears...but one thing struck me as extraordinary as my family gathered in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, to love on my grandmother and say goodbye to Pappy -- in the midst of the tears, there was much REJOICING! My Pappy is in HEAVEN! He is currently experiencing God's majesty firsthand and walking the streets of Heaven next to JESUS CHRIST Himself! Hallelujah! As Paul said, "To live is Christ and to die is GAIN" (Philippians 1:21).
In an excerpt from a devotional by John Piper, I recently read that we glorify God even in our dying. Dying is our last act on earth; the body bids farewell and the soul ascends to live for all eternity in intimate communion with our infinite God. "We express the infinite worth of Christ in dying by counting death as gain. Why gain? Because death means going to be with Christ which is very much better [than life on this earth]. You have a body. But it is not yours. 'You have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God with your body,' 1 Corinthians 6:20."
My Pappy is experiencing right now what the guys from Mercy Me sing about in their song "I Can Only Imagine." I wonder what he did when he met Jesus face to face? Did he fall down and worship? Did he run straight into His arms and dance and sing in his new body, free from pain and cancer and old age? What was it like to hear God the Father say, "Well done, My good and faithful servant?" The psalmist tells us that God views the death of His sons and daughters as precious: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" (Psalm 116:15). How incredible must it have been to finally stand in the presence of Jesus and know that for all of eternity he gets to worship the God who created the cosmos and imagined this life and who has personally prepared a room for my Pappy in His house in Heaven.... I can only imagine...
Love it, Bits. Keep blogging...you're good at it.
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