In 1983, Paul “Bear” Bryant died unexpectedly days after he retired. He was the college football coach with the best won-loss record of all time. Announcing his death, a news reporter quoted Bryant as saying a year earlier, “When I stop coaching football, I’ll die.” The reporter added, “Presumably that is what happened.”
Now, I’m not saying that Bryant died for lack of purpose in life, but his words remind us of an important fact. Christians die when God in wisdom decided to take them Home. The means may be disease, accident, or old age. But behind what’s written on the death certificate is God’s reason, and the Bible gives at least three causes.
First, God calls us Home when our purpose for being on earth has been fulfilled. Paul said, “I have finished the race” (2 Timothy 4:7). Second, death may spare us suffering. Abijah, the young son of wicked King Jeroboam, became sick and died because in him was found “something good toward the Lord God.” His death spared him the terrible judgment that later fell on his father’s house (1 Kings 14:1-14). Third, God may chasten through death. Because some Corinthian believers had gotten drunk at their love feasts, God judged them and many died (1 Corinthians 11:21, 30). This seems harsh, but judgment kept them from being “condemned with the world” (v. 32).
When a Christian dies, regardless of circumstances or age, we take comfort in knowing that it is better for that one to be with the Lord than to remain on earth. – Dennis J. De Haan
We would not wish them back again
Amid this world of care,
For God in love has called them Home,
And we shall meet them there. – Anon.
Earth is the land of the dying; heaven is the land of the living.
- June 23, 1987, Our Daily Bread
For You 