I want to say, first and foremost, that death is a very difficult subject for me. My mother died suddenly when I was a few months into thirteen. She was a single mom to me and my sister. She worked hard and made a good living. She had no help from my father, she stood on her own two feet.
She was an alcoholic who worked all night and partied all day. The more she submerged herself in her addiction, the more she pulled away from us. She paid the bills and provided for us very well. She did her best. But she wounded us with her neglect. She lost her grip on being a mother as she lost control over her alcoholism.
In the end, she was dead under suspicious circumstances, with her drunk and violent boyfriend. They were alone on a deserted county road when (he says) they had an argument, and she was opening her door to get out of his truck. He says he swung around as she opened her door, the force throwing her down on the pavement.
The way she left our lives, it happened in a moment. She was there and then she wasn’t, and there was nothing that could change it.
The shock of her death, how unbelievable it was that she was no longer alive, was the rawest introduction to what death does–it forces separation, there is no choice and no going back.
My mother’s death changed my life for the rest of my life.
From a young age, we begin to understand death. We see that insects die. We see roadkill. With great sadness, our pets pass away. Devastatingly, people we love die.
Death means loss, something or someone is taken away. They don’t come back. In this life, the one we are all currently living, death appears to be a brick wall.
People try to comfort each other at funerals by saying the dead are “in a better place.” Believing that “good” people go to heaven is a spiritual default position. Plenty of “good” people still do wrong.
I am a very kind person. I help people and encourage them. The pain of other people pains me. I wear my heart on my sleeve, I am sensitive and I am loving. But I have still done plenty of wrong. I have hurt people with my actions and my words. I have been selfish and greedy. I haven’t taken some opportunities to help people because it would inconvenience me or I was afraid they would depend on me too much.
These are but a few of the things that would disqualify me from being a “good” person. I try, I really do. But I don’t always succeed, even though I want to. I’m not perfect, far from it.
God doesn’t require us to be perfect, He requires us to believe that He is Who He says He is–the One True God. No other “god,” no other “higher power” or life philosophy is true. God is three persons joined together as One–God the Father; Jesus, His Son; and the Holy Spirit.
It can be hard to understand, I know. That’s why it’s so important to get into the Bible so that you can learn about God and start to know Him. At first, the Bible might be a tough read. But the more you read the Bible, the more God will help you understand it. This is supernatural, and it reveals the power of God!
In John Chapter 5, verse 24, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him Who sent Me (God the Father) has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” [NIV Bible]
In John Chapter 11, verse 25, Jesus said to her (Martha, the sister of Lazarus), “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies {NIV Bible]
Who can stand up to death? Only God can. Who can change it? Only the One True God.
Don’t put off turning to God. There is no better time than right now! We have all made plans to start something new and then forgotten about it or lost our momentum to change.
No matter what your background is, no matter if you’ve been skeptical about there being a god, or you’re bitter toward God about the suffering you’ve gone through, wherever you are coming from, God will welcome you!
The Lord Almighty says, “Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God and there is no other.” ;NIV Bible Isaiah 45:22]