Discovery In A Cemetery

I don’t spend a lot of time in cemeteries, but on occasion I find myself there. The thoughts that raced through my mind recently were not necessarily new, but never arranged in a more understandable (for me) manner.

Although Jesus talked about life constantly, we may find ourself focused, at times, on death. Jesus said, in answer to a direct question:  “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.  Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25)

As a Believer I want to spend all my time thinking about life – not death. I certainly understand that death is a reality from a human mental and physical perspective, but from the heart and mind of a Believer, despair and discouragement should never be the focus. Rather, real JOY (that supernatural gift that comes from knowing, understanding, and living the Truth, and experiencing it in abundance even in the deepest of sorrows), COMFORT (safe in the arms of God), PEACE (which surpasses the ability of our mind to understand), even VICTORY (over the curse of sin and death), must be the focus of our attention.

Is that hard to accomplish? Yes, I think so. We have become seasoned to think like those who do not have those gifts (highlighted in the previous paragraph) in their experience. The time to make change in our thinking is while we have opportunity to do so. One must focus on the Truth that while there are transitions in all phases of life, the final transition (being conformed to the image of the Savior, (Romans 8:29, e.g.) is no more negatively significant that the transitions that precede it.

I am reminded that members of my family, a multitude of friends, some of my closest associates in life, people I have lloved with an everlasting llove, are not dead. They are ALIVE, much more so than I, still caught in the struggles of this journey we call life.