O Death, Where Is Your Sting

This past week we’ve been reflecting on the life of our dear sister in the Lord, Anne Horn, who passed away at the age of 60 on August 7.  The experience of meeting with the family and helping coordinate the memorial service has been deeply moving to me—in ways that are both uplifting and unsettling.

I am so encouraged by the blessings of the Lord in Anne’s life—how he cared for her in her early years despite the tragedies that came upon her parents, how he gifted her with new birth and a boundless faith to trust in Jesus for all that life brings—all the joys, all the trials.  Her testimony is a tribute to the amazing grace of the Lord!

But I am unsettled as well.  Because death is an enemy.  Death is an aberration.  Death casts a wretched pall over all our days this side of heaven.  Life is SO different from what it would be if death had never entered the picture.  Trillia Newbell, in her article at The Gospel Coalition, “Death Is Not Okay,” brings this out.

She tells the story of going for lunch with her pre-teen niece the day after the girl’s mother (and Newbell’s sister) died at age 40.  Her niece vented a bit, “I’m just tired of people telling me it’s going to be okay.  I just want to know what’s going to happen next.”

Newbell reflects:  “My sweet niece is right…  I know the mourning will be less heavy one day…  I also know one day everything will seem “okay.”  But death is not “okay.”  Death is not the way it was meant to be…  Death is the result of a broken world.  We experience starvation, sickness, aging, and death, but none of these things existed in the beginning.”

And yet, “In infinite wisdom and grace, God provided a way to conquer death through the work of his Son.  Jesus died and rose again in victory.  The free gift of salvation, through faith in Christ, brings justification (Romans 5:16).  And this free gift is available to anyone who places their faith in the finished work of the cross.”

So death will be destroyed—swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).  The Lord will reverse the curse and gather his children for eternal joy!  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory in Christ Jesus!