Death is not the catharsis of self, “death is the catharsis of sin”. Fr. Josiah Trenham in his message The Art of Dying.
Never before have so many people (particularly in middle-class America) been faced with the idea of death. While I had thought that Christians have a better grip on this ultimate reality, I have been proven oh, so wrong.
Not only are we very ill prepared as a people and culture, but even our very Church leaders have found themselves ill prepared.
The greatest evangelistic opportunity in modern history was squandered. The entire purpose of our mortal lives here on earth is to prepare for death. If we, as Christians, do not understand this, we are grossly missing the point. Romans 14:8 really presses on this truth.
“If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans 14:8
As we navigate through this world of distractions and illusions of earthly importance, let us remember these sobering words of Christ:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
John 12:24-28
He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him. “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify thy name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.””
Recent Comments