The Way of All Earth

November 19, 2013

SCRIPTURE

“And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you.”

~Joshua 23:13, ESV

QUOTE

Live in Christ, live for Christ, and the flesh need not fear death.

~John Knox

COMMENTARY

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life, anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying.” {John 11:25, NLT} Physical death as we know it is not a permanent state. Actually, it is a door or portal that leads from one life to another but for those of us who are left behind, there is a time of separation from the one who has departed. Followers of Christ do not deny the separation or the grief that it bears but we do not despair as those who have no hope. David said, “Can I bring my son back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”

There is a huge difference between separation and cessation. I have made several trips overseas and each time there was some grief and homesickness but never despair. I always had the hope of returning home to my family. The separation bothered me, home was never far from my mind but I was not dysfunctional or depressed because I had hope. I am never perfectly content on foreign soil no matter how busy I get or hard I work, there is something in me that longs for home and the closer I get to departure, the happier I am.