It is what it is… or is it?
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live…”
John 11:25 (ESV)
In life there are certain inevitabilities. The Bible tells us that it is appointed for us to die once: ‘And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.’ (Hebrews 9:27-28).
It can understandably be devastating for someone to receive a negative prognosis on their health; fear and gloom descend upon them. According to the statisticians one out of two people will experience cancer.1 Some can adopt a pragmatic approach – ‘It is what it is.’ Whilst there is ever increasing progress being made in the field of cancer research, there is still a dread of the word and what it may portend.
We Christians have no need of either fear or pragmatism when it comes to our demise. We are promised a life so glorious it is too much for us to comprehend at this time. Our future would quite literally blow our minds were we to grasp it now. Ill health is not ‘what it is’. There is a wonderful life waiting to be lived in Jesus Christ.
Our passports to that life were written in His blood: ‘But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.’ (Philippians 3:20-21). Not only that, but in Matthew 28:20 we are promised company on the journey – none other than Jesus Christ, our brother and Saviour.
No matter what befalls us – we have the promises made by the very Son of God. His sufferings change our own views, whether pragmatic, or one of doom and gloom, to one of glorious hope.
Prayer
Wonderful Father, thank you for your precious Son Jesus who has underwritten our future by His sacrifice – thank you Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for your amazing love that never leaves us. Amen
Study by Irene Wilson
About the writer:
Irene Wilson is a deaconess in the Watford congregation of Grace Communion International, and also serves on the Pastoral Council.
Local congregation:
Gracecom Watford
St. Peter’s Church
61 Westfield Avenue
Watford, Herts.
WD24 7HF
Meeting time:
Saturday 11am
Local congregational contact:
George Henderson
Email: watford@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church