For some people, to really live means going on a dream vacation. This may be a vacation they have wanted for many, many years and has finally happened. For others, it may mean finding that perfect mate that they hoped for but thought they would never find. And then to others, it might be buying that perfect gift for someone special where they light up like a Christmas tree. No matter what it is, the fact that something happens in your life that that brings you ultimate life on this earth is usually termed—really living.
For the Christian the reality is that no one really lives while he or she is on planet earth. Earth is not your home. You are just a sojourner on this earth with heaven being your true home. This being true, then the transition from life on earth to heaven should be a welcome one. That transition is what is commonly called death. Do not fear death but look forward to leaving earth behind and living forever in heaven.
When you look at the lives of Christians who have died, it gives you a peace of mind at death itself. In her last illness hymn writer Fanny Crosby remarked, “How can anyone call it a dark valley? It is all light and love.” The dying words of Adoniram Judson, first missionary to Burma, were, “I go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school. I feel so strong in Christ.” When my grandmother on my mother’s side died, I was not there but I was told by my mother that her last words before she died were, “It’s beautiful. It’s more beautiful than I ever imagined.”
There is nothing to fear in death. It is just the transition from living to really living. The Lord Jesus wanted you and me to know that there is no fear in death when He said in John 5:24, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” In other words, Jesus is telling us that when we die as a Christian, we begin to really live.
Accept Jesus as Lord and Savior if you have never done so, if you have then walk in Him. Then get ready to really live when you get to heaven!
