"Time to Go"

It’s solemn and it’s serious,

Some avoid it furious,

But to deny is spurious,

The finality of death.

The Book calls it sin’s wages,

And from many inspired pages,

Those Spirit-filled old sages,

Spoke of our last breath.

Death is body without spirit,

We really need to hear it,

And though so many fear it,

Paul said it brought him gain.

Asked death, where is your sting,

When our spirits take wing,

Into the arms of our King,

And cleansed of every stain.

The blood has made us ready,

With confidence so steady,

These promises plumb heady,

Assured by what we know.

The Spirit gives His witness,

And our faith gives us fitness,

The ultimate in litmus,

When it’s our time to go.

(Dedicated to our friend, Bobby Burleson, who went home to Jesus last week. He was washed in the blood.)

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57, NLT)

Dying is part of living on this earth. It is inevitable for all of us, unless Jesus comes before we die. If the Lord tarries, our physical bodies will die. Paul blames sin as the cause of death, and the law of God indites our behavior. But the One who fulfilled God’s law and died to pardon our transgressions reframes death in the process. Rather than a doorway into spiritual separation from God, it becomes the most joyous home going imaginable! The sting of death is replaced by the victory of the Savior! Hallelujah.

Lord, give us the full assurance that the sting of death has been replaced by victory, in Jesus’ name.

Photo of our good friends, Bobby and Teresa Burleson. Bobby died last week.