Is Death the End of One Life and the Start of Another—R Fritz
To those that choose Jesus and obey him, there is no sting of death, sin is the sting of death. 1 Corinthians 15:50-52, 54-58 says “Now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we all shall be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is the victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” Flesh and blood (the corruptible body) will not get to the kingdom of God. It is the spiritual body (the incorruptible body) that we enter the kingdom through Jesus. The work we do for Jesus is not forgotten nor in vain but will be remembered after we get to the kingdom of God.
We are expected to follow Jesus through the Holy Spirit, or we are just following ourselves. Our interpretation changes as the Holy Spirit feeds us the truth we are looking for. If we are not looking for anything or wisdom from God we will not receive any because we do not need anything. This is why people are not getting anything from God or the Holy Spirit. James 4:2-3 says “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” We are thinking about ourselves and forget to ask, then when we ask, we are asking for the wrong thing. We think we do not need God until we run into problems. Our thoughts should be focused on God where we will see God’s needs for us or how can God use us. That is the attitude we should have every day of our life. Our attitude gives us the ability to see what is going on around us. It is thinking out of the box, that is what the Holy Spirit gives us, the ability to see things most people will never see. When we are doing things for God, we forget what we need but God does not forget our needs. God does not forget the questions we ask him, if we are looking for the truth, we will find it while looking for something else.
The important things we own or our money will not follow us to heaven. There is no Brinks truck carrying money or our special items behind the hearse to the cemetery. We leave our life in death with what we have on, nothing else. Our treasures on earth will stay here and rust and eventually end up being part of the ground. Matthew 6:19-21 says “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” We should not worry about what we consider our treasure because it will affect our life negatively. Our treasures become what matters to us, what we will think about, and where our hearts will be.
This life has rewards, some we see during our life, and some will be given after our death in God’s kingdom. Our decisions first choosing Jesus, then following him, then obeying him will bring us down that narrow road or path. Matthew 16:24-28 says Then said Jesus unto his disciples, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, If he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” Jesus shall “reward” every person according to his works. The things we do does not get us into God’s kingdom but we are rewarded for our decisions and our obedience.
Adam lived with God in the Garden of Eden and when sin happened it changed the plan for mankind. After Jesus gave his life for sin. We got the ability to choose eternal life or death. That choice will be made before we die. With us being able to choose our eternal place we will live on into eternity with our God. That decision was God’s plan for us to choose him or sin. The Bible and having a relationship with the Holy Spirit will give us the information to make that choice.
All the decisions we make in life will get us to the end of our life and death. We know death will come. Our life will come to a different phase when we die. This is what Jesus said when talking about death in John 14:1-6 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I will go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” Thomas saith unto him, “Lord we know not whither thou goeth; and how can we know the way?” “Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Remember Jesus said he is preparing a place for us but we have to come through him to see the place he has for us. Our choice has rewards or repercussions. God Bless.
