Life and Death

We had dinner together Wednesday evening. By next Monday he was gone. Bud and his wife are one of the couples I get together with regularly for dinner. Bud had cancer but was still working part time while under treatment. His friends and I were shocked to see him go so quickly. Jesus called death sleep and when I looked at my friend, that’s how he looked. Death of a friend or family member makes you think. I don’t look forward to death, as long as I’m still relatively healthy and active. But it also helps to know that I have already died. “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:2-3). And not only have I already died, the apostle Paul tells me, you and the Colossians, I have already been resurrected. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on  things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God” (verse 1). As Christians we don’t have to fear death or what comes after death. We have already died and been resurrected and are now living a resurrected life. It’s a done deal. Nobody or anything in this world can ever undo that.