“One of these days, we’re all going to be the main attraction at a funeral. Someone will say a few nice words about us, those who love us will cry a bit, they will put us in a fancy car, haul us to a cemetery, put us in a hole in the ground, throw a little dirt in our face and everyone will go back to the church building and eat chicken.”

    I didn’t say it to be funny. It was what I call “the cornbread English” version of the truth. Something straightforward and unambiguous dealing with a topic none of us really wants to talk about. It is, however, a subject all of us will ultimately face. We are mortal. We will die. We live in a broken world in which death impacts us all. The Bible says it even more bluntly: It is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27 NRSV) The bitter, bottom line reality is this: One of these days, we’re all going to be the main attraction at a funeral...

    God helped me relive my own words the following morning. As I was blitzing through the newspaper, I opened the obituary section. I don’t normally visit that section of the paper. As I flipped through the pages, however, a picture caught my eye. Sure enough, it was someone I knew. She had attended our church for a number of years before moving away. She was a year younger than I. The obituary said she died in her sleep of natural causes.

    Whoa! You don’t die of natural causes at my age, do you?

    Yes. Dying is a fallen nature’s way of bringing down the curtain on our individual lives.

If we don’t have an answer for that one reality, then we will lose our most important competition — life!

    As much as we would like to keep “natural causes” from being a topic of our conversation, each of us will die. I know this is not the bright and cheery news that we like to put in your inbox or on the web first thing on Monday morning, but this week in Heartlight we’re focusing on telling the truth. There is no greater truth — we are mortal... we will die... there will be a closing time for our life here on earth. Natural causes will rule the day. If we don’t have an answer for that one reality, then we will lose our most important competition — life!

    That’s why it is important to be a non-natural person! You see, every person who is a Christian is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). They are joined to Christ and their life is tied to his future (Colossians 3:1-4). The Spirit of God leads them, not their fleshly desires that are destined to perish (Galatians 5:16-26; Romans 8:5-25). They are non-naturals. Their bodies will die, but their spirits will never be separated from Christ — not even death can separate them from their relationship with Jesus (Romans 8:32-39; 2 Corinthians 5:1-9). Then, on that great day of Jesus’ return, they will be raised from the dead and be given immortal bodies; they will join in reunion with other believers from all ages, and go to be with the Lord forever (1 Corinthians 15:50-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). The non-naturals can say confidently, “How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (1 Corinthians 15:57 NLT)

    Yes, we will all die of natural causes. Death is the ultimate ending of natural life. Our physical bodies are mortal and will die. The real issue is whether or not we also have a non-natural life. If we do, then we can rest assured that our lives are not lived in vain and that the victory that matters most is ours!

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. (1 Corinthians 15:58 NLT)