July 30 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

We live in a world filled with assumptions. We go to bed and wake up, expecting the sun to rise, assuming life will carry on in much the same fashion as it did the day before. Yet death can disrupt and shatter our world of assumptions in a matter of seconds. The death of a loved one, parent, child, brother, sister or close friend can change us for the rest of our lives.

Many people consider death to be part of a natural process and cycle of events. Just as a meteorite glows as it passes through the sky, but burns up once it hits the earth’s atmosphere, so we, too, light up and disintegrate into nothingness. This is, of course, a far cry from what the Bible says about death. Death does not belong to human existence. Death is an enemy, no matter who it strikes and when it strikes.

The only way we can face death correctly is through faith in Christ. Outside of Him and His perfect work of redemption there is no comfort or hope. A child of God has no reason to fear death since Jesus Christ has removed death’s sting through His victory. Grieving, sorrow and death receive new meaning in Jesus.

We do not long for death as a goal in itself. What we long for is the continuation and perfection of life that is beyond it. Death is radically different for a believer than it is for an unbeliever. For a person who rejects the gospel death is imprisonment—waiting the final punishment. Those who die in the Lord are free from sin and the daily struggle against the weaknesses of the sinful nature. “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.” (15:56) Death is not merely the final result of a normal human process of deterioration, breakdown and decay. Sin is the deadly poison that has brought death into the world. “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”(15:57) Through Christ’s death we are granted victory over every sin. Where sin is pardoned the poison of death is taken away. Christ, in a manner of speaking, gives us a blood transfusion so that the deadly poison is removed from our lives, allowing us to live with Him into all eternity. Therefore, have no fear of death! Let nothing discourage you. Give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord. In Christ, the Victor, your present labours are not meaningless (15:58).