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Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins
What Do They Have in Common?
The following people all have something in common. Do you know what it is?
Princess Margaret
Jim Wakefield
Stephen J. Gould
Wilbur Bailey
Ann Landers
Rosemary Clooney
Johnny Unitas
Lorayne Harper
Now, if you read the newspapers during the last days of 2002, you saw the names of some of them, but probably not all. They all had at least one thing in common; they all died last year.
I don’t want to trivialize death, nor make a joke about dying, but death is one thing all of us have in common, whether we are just common folk like Lorayne Harper and Jim Wakefield, or national figures like Johnny Unitas and Stephen J. Gould.
Last Fall, the threat of death flew in the face of men and women in the Washington D. C. area at the hands of snipers. Over a year ago, the threat of death began to be felt at the hand of international terrorists, and we all were touched by that threat.
Death is one thing that all men face, good or bad, famous or not, rich and poor, educated and not so educated. As big as some people have been in history, death still came to them: Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Plato, Babe Ruth, you name them, and as with them, death awaits us all.
Spiritually and eternally, it depends upon your actions in life, and your relationship with Jesus Christ. That familiar passage in Hebrews 9:27 says:
“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
If death came today are you prepared? It does not always come with a certain age or occupation. It does not come with a geographical location. It comes to all. Some consider North Korea’s withdrawal from their previous membership in a treaty as a threat of nuclear war—one more fear factor in our lives. Global warming, Anthrax, all have been touted as fearful possibilities to some or all of us. No one is exempt. Stephen J. Gould was an ardent evolutionist. Along with her fame as a singer, Rosemary Clooney’s life was filled with problems. Lorayne Harper was a waitress in a Fort Worth café. Wilbur Bailey was a cab driver. Ann Landers vigorously denied Christ. Death comes to all, famous or not. Young or old.
To some, death is not as fearful as to others. To a Christian, death is something expected but not feared. The apostle Paul wrote the following:
“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I know not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you,” Philippians 1:20-24.
Writing these words on “death row,” Paul might have been excused for being a bit morbid, but that is not his outlook at all. Why? For the very reason given in his last inspired letter, 2 Timothy 4:6-8:
“I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
What hope! What a life that was lived so Paul could have that hope. He “fought—finished—kept.” You and I can have that hope, but we also must fight, finish and keep that faith. Not perfection, for Paul was not perfect, but he lived the glorious life in Christ. Let’s help each other achieve that goal.
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“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
“To live in the hearts we leave is not to die.”
“So live that when thy summons comes to join the innumerable caravan which moves to that mysterious realm where each shall take his chamber in the silent halls of death, thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night scourged to his dungeon, but sustained by an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.”
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