We know what the Black Armband signifies. When someone close to the program dies, an athletic team will wear Black Armbands to remember and honor him or her. Truth be told, if all of us remembered our deceased ones this way, we would be wearing Black Armbands most every day. Death is an ever present reality in our lives. We try very hard to push the reality of death into the background of our thoughts. But death is inescapable. The Bible compels us to face death head on. “What man can live and not see death, or save himself from the power of the grave?” it asks in Psalm 89:48. God wants us to face death honestly, realizing that unless something can be done about it, death wins and despair reigns. Something CAN be done about it because something HAS been done about it. Jesus has conquered death for us by dying for our sins and arising from the grave to give us life. In 1 Corinthians 15, Apostle Paul meticulously explains the relevance of the resurrection of Christ. At the very end he can no longer contain himself, exclaiming, “’Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ 55 ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’… 57 Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” When we trust what Christ has done for us, believers possess a “living hope” that death cannot touch. Christians still grieve. Like all human beings they are still afflicted by death’s presence. But Christians grieve differently. They grieve with hope, knowing death has lost its power over them. As Jesus said beside the grave of his friend Lazarus, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25-26). That’s an appropriate question for today and every day. Making much of the Resurrected Lord today.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 14:02:07 +0000