When I Die, I Live

The thought of dying hits us in different ways. How it is going to be is another story. Some people are brave enough to prepare the details of their departure, while others have too much fear to even talk about it. My husband and I often ask the Lord for us to die together from old age, in our sleep, maybe while we hug each other just like in the movies. The imagination sometimes makes us laugh but we seriously desire it to happen that way.

When we reach middle age, we’ll realize that time flies so fast and witnessing several deaths will make “life is short” a common phrase. It’s the reality – death is inevitable. But for those whose lives have been dedicated to the Lord, dying becomes a reason for thanking God, because it is the consummation of the hope that Jesus promised. 

He said “…. Since I live, you also will live.” (John 14 :19) Peter, the apostle, knowing this too, responded in worship when he said “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,…” (1 Peter 1:3) This is the living hope that we have that Jesus himself said, “…I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (John 11:25)

Now we know what follows death: we too will be resurrected and spend eternal life with our Savior. Knowing God’s plan for us that has been revealed to us through our faith in the Lord Jesus, we have every reason to praise Him, and exchange the thought of sorrow into gladness when we think about leaving earth.

I believe Jesus is asking us the same question he asked Martha: “Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this…?” (John 11:26) If man’s only hope is in this lifetime, unsure of what awaits him on the other side, then he is most pitiful. But for him whose hope is in the Lord who has prepared “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade that is kept in heaven” (1 Peter 1:4), he will greatly rejoice even in trials and sufferings (1 Peter 1:6), knowing that when he dies, he’ll actually live.