This morning, I was notified of the passing of one of my Aunts. While I am sad for those left behind, I know she was a believer in Jesus Christ and that makes a big difference to me. Death remains a mystery to the living, yet it is inevitable for all. There are many theories on what may happen after you die some say nothing, some say reincarnation, some say you go directly to heaven and some say that you are just resting until Jesus comes to take you home. Whatever you believe it certainly says a lot about you in general.

I must admit that I don’t understand those that believe all that happens is you just decompose. It seems like a negative thought. If this is all that there is, I must admit that I am disappointed. To me it is equivalent to living a life without hope. I picture Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, “Oh no, I guess I am just going to die, what is the point? I might as well just sit here and wait.” Such a defeatist attitude, and I would venture to say that this disconnect is related to the selfish desires of this world and current mantra of living your best life or YOLO. As if living for yourself and your own happiness can truly bring you any real happiness.

I look to the bible for guidance as I often do and in this particular area I turn to King Solomon, his wisdom is transcendent and relevant, even today. In the book of Ecclesiastes, he writes extensively about life and death and what falls in between. He depicts life as vanity and chasing the wind. I agree, such a short trip compared to eternity. Life’s seasons seem too short, and often we don’t take the time to enjoy them because we are looking to the next thing, saying that if we could just get that next car or award or date THEN we can be happy. It seems almost cruel that as we age, we come to understand what was truly important and often have regrets that we didn’t cherish the time while we had it. So many things to be thankful for, health, youth, family, friends. We certainly understand life backwards. I have heard it said that on your death bed you won’t be thinking that you wish you had made more money or travelled more. Your focus will be on the people you love and the memories you have, if you a blessed enough to remember them. I feel that in my soul. I scurried around trying to “chase the wind,” and thankfully I figured out reasonably early that it is all vanity.

Ultimately what was the conclusion of wise King Solomon in the matter?

Fear God and keep his commandments. For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgement, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. Eccl 12:13 and 14.

Some people may look at this scripture in a negative way, I challenge you not to focus on words like judgement and fear instead look at it more like reward and worship. Sometimes the language or translation doesn’t represent the heart of the scripture well. Maybe the paraphrase might be

Live well and worship God because he is the one who is the key to your ultimate reward (eternal life.)

Whether or not your spirit goes directly to heaven, or has a well-deserved rest for a while doesn’t make much difference to me. That is the difference between the death of a believer and non-believer. In this case I know we will meet again and that allows me to remember without being sad. What a beautiful mercy. As the old hymn says, “in the sweet by and by, we will meet on that beautiful shore.”