Dying Grace
By Gabriel García Valdivieso
As I enter the later years of my life, the subject of death comes around more frequently than before, and it’s not always happy. Granted, for born-again Christians who know the Lord, death shouldn’t be a big deal. Yet we are all humans and can get wary and skeptical.
I haven’t been exempt from fear and doubts about exiting this life. In this day of disbelief, it’s sometimes a struggle to keep my faith intact about the glories of heaven. But then I think of all the apostles and great men and women of God throughout the ages who kept hold of the promises about the afterlife and died in peace.
So, I have sought refuge in the truths of the Bible, tested and proven by millions in centuries past. Absorbing these and meditating on them has brought peace to my heart. I decided I’d better prepare, building my faith on the Scriptures, which offer the right foundation to face the grave.
As in everything, whenever we deal with doubts, there is no better way to resolve or dispel them than to go to God’s Word. I have found great comfort in different Bible passages, especially from the New Testament, such as the time when Jesus told Martha:
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”1 That is a faith booster, especially coming from Jesus, whose resurrection is historically unquestionable and who is the truth par excellence. He then goes on to ask her—really, addressing each one of us: “Do you believe this?” Just hearing Jesus serenely asking me this question sets me at ease, and my answer of course is: “Yes, Lord. I believe.”
When facing the prospect of death, Jesus is my focal point. I know He is the way, the truth, and the life,2 and the resurrection and the life,3 so why worry?
The early disciples were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ resurrection, and after His ascension they spread the word all around, as is recorded in numerous passages in the book of Acts.
The apostle Paul’s words and attitude toward death are also a great encouragement to me. Instead of dreading it, he was looking forward to it: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”4
The risen Christ, as Paul states, is our hope of eternal life. If you find yourself experiencing concerns about death, I would recommend that you read chapter 15 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians to boost your faith for assurance about the next life.
Several years ago, in the months before my mom passed away, she had a pretty happy attitude and great peace about the next life. She knew she had made many mistakes and blunders in her life, yet she had reconciled with God and had surrendered to Him. So she didn’t worry; she was already in His arms, so to speak. She looked forward to heaven with a happy expectation. Her good example has helped calm my own fears.
Dwight L. Moody had a lot to say about death. When someone asked him if he had dying grace, he wisely answered: “No. Why should I? I am not dying yet.” Let’s not worry if we don’t quite have dying grace. God will endow us with it when we need it. And if you have any unresolved issues pending before that fateful day, take them to God and reconcile with Him. And if you haven’t yet, ask Jesus to come into your heart and receive Him as your Savior, and you can be sure you’ll fly to His arms when He calls you home.
I’ll close with some more quotes from Dwight L. Moody:
I find that many Christians are in trouble about the future; they think they will not have grace enough to die by. It is much more important that we should have grace enough to live by. It seems to me that death is of very little importance in the meantime. When the dying hour comes, there will be dying grace; but you do not require dying grace to live by.
*
Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal—a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto his glorious body.
*
I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever.
*
Earth recedes, Heaven opens before me. If this is death, it is sweet! There is no valley here. God is calling me, and I must go.
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