True Loss

3.8.2010

Mk 15:31 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself…” ESV

To many, if not most people, death is the end; death is the big deal; death is the final act. And in some respects it is but death is not the end nor is death the final act…

These Pharisees, like so many others, didn’t understand death and were of the opinion that because Jesus was dying (and ultimately died) that He somehow lost what is so important to man – life. They didn’t understand what they said they believed (resurrection from the dead) and they didn’t understand the imperfections, uncertainties, and mysteries of this life; to them death was the winner and those who died somehow lost.

They also didn’t understand mission or sacrifice. They didn’t realize the true purpose of all those sacrifices they made in their temple. The misunderstood the Torah and the Law of Moses. They didn’t see God because of their religion and all they could comprehend was Jesus losing out because they got what they demanded from Pilate.

Death is merely a door that all humans pass through in order to stand in the judgment before God. To some, to die without Christ is to lose out on fellowship with God for eternity – that is true loss. To others death is the gateway to unbroken life and friendship with God forever. And for any, true life is found when they’re life is given in sacrifice for the sake of others in obedience to God.

That is the death I seek because it is the Golden Gateway to God.

Father in Heaven,

May my life be a sacrifice for the sake of others and may I represent You well in understanding of what death is and what true life is – in Christ, amen.