A BLESSED SPARING

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.

Isaiah 57:1-2

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

My wife has lost three brothers in the last eight months. I continue to read or hear of other people every day who have has loved ones pass as well. In fact, just two weeks ago, nine Christians were gunned down in a bible study at a Charleston, SC, church by a stranger they had welcomed into their midst.

Death is inevitable for all of us. That’s a fact of life but it’s never easy when it comes, no matter how you cut it. We often look for words of comfort and peace from others but we usually find that there is no better source of assurance and solace in the midst of grief than what we find in the blessed word of God.

Today, we have one such passage. Look again at these words as we find the Lord putting death in a new perspective for us, one that proposes death as a blessed sparing, a final act of mercy that the Lord grants us before as this earthly life ends and we await the eternal life to come:

The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.  Isaiah 57:1-2

From the very dawn of our existence, we belong to the Lord God Almighty. We are His from conception to birth through life and after death when we have placed our faith and trust in His Son Jesus as Savior. Those who have made that choice are not only Christians but counted among the righteous, those who have decided to trade in their sinful, wicked ways for the ways of Christ, ways that are perfectly right and faultless. Those who walk the path of righteousness with Jesus in life carry themselves uprightly before God and others. Their ways are pleasing in their Father’s sight because they are carrying out His will while serving Him and others. Their actions always result in glory and honor attributed to His holy and precious name until that day when He decides their life here on earth is over, their mission accomplished.

And then He takes His devout followers away.

But why does He take them?

Our scripture passage tells us that no one understands the real reason why.

This is because those who have lost loved ones rarely see that a blessed sparing has been taken place, a blessed sparing where God has removed His child from the evil of the world and granted them peace and rest. Indeed, when the time comes for us to perish and depart life here on earth, we will be set free from all the things that afflict us in this worldly existence. We will have no more pain or affliction or hardship or heartache or stress or worry or fear. All will be gone along with the sin that plagues us all.  

It really is a perfect peace in the Lord and a peace that will ensure forever through the salvation promise we have in Christ Jesus.

Friends, this is what makes the gatherings after the deaths of Christians celebrations of life, not funerals. We come together to rejoice in the times we had to share with our beloved who have been taken by the very God who made them and we come to give thanks to God for His blessed sparing, praising Him for freeing the departed from the evils of this world and bringing them to a peaceful rest.

I don’t know about you but there isn’t anything in this world that makes me feel like I would pass up eternity to stay here. When my time comes to depart, I will be more than ready to go and enter into a life more fantastic and glorious than I can even imagine, a time when I will be able to see my Heavenly Father and His Son, my Savior, face to face and dwell with them forever just as my dearly departed loved ones will be doing.

It’s going to be an amazing reunion. 

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com