“For he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.” Philippians 2:30
January 5, 2023
Monday evening’s near death scare for Damar Hamlin in the Monday night football game should make us all pause and think. Eternity is a heartbeat away. Thankfully CPR brought Hamlin back from the precipice of death. Christians are to face sickness and death without fear. It is God’s mercy that keeps us alive. Sickness and death are under the absolute sovereignty of God. If one is not a believer in Jesus Christ, further opportunity is extended to cross the golden bridge to be with Jesus Christ. Epaphroditus was a leader in the Philippian church who nearly died while helping and encouraging Paul. God can and does heal physical sickness. Being faithful in Christian service does not earn us healing or prevention from illness. We are to leave our physical condition in the hands of a merciful God. He may want to take us into our heavenly rest. He may want us to live on in our mortal bodies to bless others in the name of Christ. It is only in this life that we can learn lessons that follow us into our Father’s house. What a place that must be, a place of “many rooms” we are told (Jn. 14:1). Let that light up your imagination the next time fever, weakness, respirators, and chemotherapy occupy your time. The best is yet to come. Sometimes God’s mercy delivers us from grief and at other times it is God’s hand pulling us heavenward.
H
“A strong belief in the sovereignty of God and His power to transmute suffering into eternal good, even glory, is the Christian’s greatest weapon in his personal battle with life’s calamities.”
Margaret Clarkson