Death is but a Doorway

 

Dear Church Family,

As I write to you, I am on the Gulf Coast of Florida. This sunny spot is a winter haven for many who come here to escape the frigid conditions of the northern states. But that is not all. In my conversations with them, I notice a prevailing concern about their looming appointments with death.

 

Death confuses most of us. We fear it, and though we know it is inevitable, we would much rather not have to deal with it. We seek to insulate ourselves from its reality, turning the music up to drown out the ominous silence that accompanies it. Our denial is understandable; death is the hardest fact of life to face. Yet in our more sober moments, we realize that our lives are as precarious as a child’s sandcastle on the seashore: that sooner or later, the tide will come in and wash it all away.

 

Solomon proffered in Ecclesiastes 7:1-2, that death “is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.” Likewise, Moses in Psalm 90:9 &12 instructs us that “a heart of wisdom” comes from contemplating our limited number of days on earth, which “end like a sigh.” Rather than fearing our inevitable date with death, the Bible teaches that we should face it