THE ROAD HOME.
Christians still die. You and I will still die. After all, Adam's road -- our road -- hasn't changed. It still leads to the threshold of death and into that yawning cave. But Jesus's victory over death shattered its power. Our road may be unchanged but it doesn't end in death anymore. The road goes into the crucible of unmaking and then out the other side where we -- like the resurrected Jesus -- will be fundamentally transformed.
We do not need to fear death because death is no longer capable of holding humanity. Instead, in its defeat death has become a tool -- a servant of God that he uses to unmake and remake us into the people he wanted us to be in the first place. In death, our failing flesh and corrupted impulses melt in the crucible and God forges a new heart for us. One that listens and follows and directs a renewed body into life and love for our Creator.
Death is not the end, but a beginning. And the road that leads to death's dark door is no longer a test of endurance, but a chance to begin the remaking process early. Death feels like the final bit of pain at the end of a long series of hardships and sorrow.
For many of us, we look at suffering in life and death at the end as necessary evils we must endure to get to heaven -- a place that will, if not explain all the pain we suffered, at least compensate for it. Death is a release from the world we live in and a pathway to something well different. Our view of heaven is a warm thought, but it lacks weight.
We see heaven as a release from pain and suffering. But that's not what it is. We must be remade -- and the road to death does just that.
Christianity is a way of dying, But it's not just the final breath we take at the end of our years that Christianity prepares us for. Instead, Jesus's victory over death opens the door to you and me to begin dying right now. To slay the things in our heart that would stiffen our necks in pride and stop up our ears to God's call.
Christianity doesn't take away our pain or even assign it little purposes for some unknown future. Christianity transforms the road that we walk -- with all its scrapes and bruises and battered shins -- into a refining forge that cuts away our impulse to serve only ourselves and replaces it with pieces of true humanity.
To this day, we fear death at the end of the road because it wrenches all control over our life from our hands. Rarely do we have ample warning before coming to death's dark door. But the life of a Christian is practice for that moment. Dying a little each day every day, we grow used to the sensation of letting go of ourselves. Letting go of our control over our world.
Christians still die. You and I will still die. After all, Adam's road -- our road -- hasn't changed. It still leads to the threshold of death and into that yawning cave. But Jesus's victory over death shattered its power. Our road may be unchanged but it doesn't end in death anymore. The road goes into the crucible of unmaking and then out the other side where we -- like the resurrected Jesus -- will be fundamentally transformed.
We do not need to fear death because death is no longer capable of holding humanity. Instead, in its defeat death has become a tool -- a servant of God that he uses to unmake and remake us into the people he wanted us to be in the first place. In death, our failing flesh and corrupted impulses melt in the crucible and God forges a new heart for us. One that listens and follows and directs a renewed body into life and love for our Creator.
Death is not the end, but a beginning. And the road that leads to death's dark door is no longer a test of endurance, but a chance to begin the remaking process early. Death feels like the final bit of pain at the end of a long series of hardships and sorrow.
For many of us, we look at suffering in life and death at the end as necessary evils we must endure to get to heaven -- a place that will, if not explain all the pain we suffered, at least compensate for it. Death is a release from the world we live in and a pathway to something well different. Our view of heaven is a warm thought, but it lacks weight.
We see heaven as a release from pain and suffering. But that's not what it is. We must be remade -- and the road to death does just that.
Christianity is a way of dying, But it's not just the final breath we take at the end of our years that Christianity prepares us for. Instead, Jesus's victory over death opens the door to you and me to begin dying right now. To slay the things in our heart that would stiffen our necks in pride and stop up our ears to God's call.
Christianity doesn't take away our pain or even assign it little purposes for some unknown future. Christianity transforms the road that we walk -- with all its scrapes and bruises and battered shins -- into a refining forge that cuts away our impulse to serve only ourselves and replaces it with pieces of true humanity.
To this day, we fear death at the end of the road because it wrenches all control over our life from our hands. Rarely do we have ample warning before coming to death's dark door. But the life of a Christian is practice for that moment. Dying a little each day every day, we grow used to the sensation of letting go of ourselves. Letting go of our control over our world.
THE ROAD HOME.
Christians still die. You and I will still die. After all, Adam's road -- our road -- hasn't changed. It still leads to the threshold of death and into that yawning cave. But Jesus's victory over death shattered its power. Our road may be unchanged but it doesn't end in death anymore. The road goes into the crucible of unmaking and then out the other side where we -- like the resurrected Jesus -- will be fundamentally transformed.
We do not need to fear death because death is no longer capable of holding humanity. Instead, in its defeat death has become a tool -- a servant of God that he uses to unmake and remake us into the people he wanted us to be in the first place. In death, our failing flesh and corrupted impulses melt in the crucible and God forges a new heart for us. One that listens and follows and directs a renewed body into life and love for our Creator.
Death is not the end, but a beginning. And the road that leads to death's dark door is no longer a test of endurance, but a chance to begin the remaking process early. Death feels like the final bit of pain at the end of a long series of hardships and sorrow.
For many of us, we look at suffering in life and death at the end as necessary evils we must endure to get to heaven -- a place that will, if not explain all the pain we suffered, at least compensate for it. Death is a release from the world we live in and a pathway to something well different. Our view of heaven is a warm thought, but it lacks weight.
We see heaven as a release from pain and suffering. But that's not what it is. We must be remade -- and the road to death does just that.
Christianity is a way of dying, But it's not just the final breath we take at the end of our years that Christianity prepares us for. Instead, Jesus's victory over death opens the door to you and me to begin dying right now. To slay the things in our heart that would stiffen our necks in pride and stop up our ears to God's call.
Christianity doesn't take away our pain or even assign it little purposes for some unknown future. Christianity transforms the road that we walk -- with all its scrapes and bruises and battered shins -- into a refining forge that cuts away our impulse to serve only ourselves and replaces it with pieces of true humanity.
To this day, we fear death at the end of the road because it wrenches all control over our life from our hands. Rarely do we have ample warning before coming to death's dark door. But the life of a Christian is practice for that moment. Dying a little each day every day, we grow used to the sensation of letting go of ourselves. Letting go of our control over our world.
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