When a Believer Dies (4)
“To go and be with Christ, which would be far better.” Php 1:23 NLT
No matter how much you enjoy where you are living right now, there’s always a longing in your heart for the place you call “home.” And how much more so for those who have been born again into God’s redeemed family! The world has its beautiful shorelines and skylines, but deep down we yearn, like Paul, for our heavenly Father, heavenly family and home. “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better…I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me” (Php 1:21-23 NLT). Leaving this life to be with Christ, in Paul’s judgment, “is far better.” Far better than what? Anything else! Nothing here can compare with what awaits you there! “No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, never so much as imagined anything quite like it—what God has arranged for those who love him” (1Co 2:9 TM). You ask, “How will this transition happen to us?” At death, “The dust [our body] returns to the ground it came from, and [our] spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecc 12:7 NIV). Our bodies will “fall asleep in Christ” (See 1Co 15:18). Our God-indwelled spirits return to His presence, delighting in “the fullness of joy” and reveling in the “pleasures forevermore” that are found in abundance at His right hand (See Ps 16:11). While we wait, anticipating our best days, heaven’s hosts rehearse for the drama of the ages, the awesome return of Christ and our accompanying Him in our glorified bodies! We say, “Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev 22:20 NIV).
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