Faith

Faith Provides Different Perspectives on Life and Death

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We are all going to die. No amount of healthy living, prayer or stubborn denial will change that. But I do believe that faith can give provide dramatically different perspectives on life and death.

I’d like to tell you a pair of stories that illustrate how a Christian can view life and death.

When I was little, my dad told me something his Sunday School teacher told their class: the man — I’ll call him Lee — had a dream in which God Himself appeared and told Lee he’d live to see his 73rd birthday. Lee was probably in his mid 50s at the time.

Lee was so certain that it was a specific vision from God rather than just a random dream that he completely embraced the idea that he’d make it to 73. Looking back, 73 doesn’t seem so much of an accomplishment these days, but Lee may not have been in the best of health, so 73 would have been at least something of an accomplishment.

Lee stayed true to his morals and stayed true to God’s Word. Sure enough, he made it to his 73rd birthday, and then lived about another 10 years or so.

The years he had leading up to his 73rd birthday were years lived in confidence on his part, because he was sure he’d been given that time by God and that time was guaranteed to him because God had said so. And to Lee, every day beyond that 73rd birthday was an additional gift from God.

This past week, a friend and coworker of mine — I’ll call her Carla — passed away suddenly. We all knew she had a serious condition which odds told us would be terminal. But her family is one that is strong in faith and none of them was willing to accept the diagnosis as a definitive answer.

Roughly a year earlier, doctors had found a spot in an MRI that they didn’t like. She and her husband came to a group of us at church, delivered the news, and mentioned that a biopsy was planned for the following morning. We prayed over Carla in a traditional practice of “laying hands” on the person, in which we literally placed our hands on her — her head, back, shoulders, arms — and prayed solemnly for God’s healing. The next morning, when it was time to perform the biopsy, there was no sign of it. After multiple scans, doctors couldn’t find that spot about which they had been so concerned.

In the year between that intense prayer and her passing, her youngest son and his wife gave birth to their first child, her first grandchild. She was here to see that and to meet her granddaughter.

What these stories have in common is the perspective in how someone will view them based largely on his level of faith.

If you’re a believer, Lee’s dream may well have been a true vision from God that provided an incredible gift of assurance. If you’re not, it was a random dream that meant nothing yet one to which Lee attached a ridiculous level of significance; Lee would have made it to 83 or so regardless of the dream.

If you’re a believer, Carla’s deep faith was rewarded by God who sent her illness into instant remission, giving her additional time to see her youngest son’s daughter. If you’re not a believer, the doctors made a huge mistake, either in finding a spot that must not have been there the first time around, or failing to look in the correct location to find it on the morning of the biopsy.

She was either given an extra year of life or deprived of more years she should have had, depending on whether you believe in God’s healing power or not.

I never knew Lee that well. I was about eleven or twelve when this happened, and while Lee was always kind to me, he and I never really talked. I do know, based on what I heard about Lee from others, that he lived his life with an intentional faith but without the fear of death. He didn’t for a moment attempt to be a superhero; he knew he still had to behave like a prudent person rather than walking out in front of moving buses.

As for Carla, she and her husband are two of the most faithful, faith-filled believers I’ve ever met. At the hospital, just moments after Carla’s passing, her husband fought back tears to talk about how good and faithful God is and encouraging those of us who’d assembled hoping against conventional wisdom that the dire news we’d received earlier that morning wouldn’t come to pass that there is always hope and that God’s timing is always perfect.

A non-believer will likely argue that we can’t know whether these two situations — the dream and the initial disappearance of the spot — were truly acts of God. And I understand that.

But when you spend time with God, seeking God, and building a relationship with God, you begin to look at things differently. One day, we may well have every one of those answers that we don’t have now.

In God’s timing. Not ours.

the authorPatrick
Patrick is a Christian with more than 30 years experience in professional writing, producing and marketing. His professional background also includes social media, reporting for broadcast television and the web, directing, videography and photography. He enjoys getting to know people over coffee and spending time with his dog.

2 Comments

  • @Guy Martin Thanks for reading, Guy, and for the kind words.
    I have a hard time imagining what a dream would have to be like for me to be as certain as Lee was that it was a direct, irrefutable message from God. But even without a specific “guarantee”, knowing God has a place for His believers is definitely a great comfort.
    Nowhere in the Bible, and I’ve looked and looked for any mention, is the promise that being a Christian means we’ll never have a hardship. I think it’s more about how equipped we are to handle the hardships we are CERTAIN to have.

  • Hi Patrick,
    Thank you for your stories of faith.  
    Perspective is largely viewed according to what side of the fence one is on.  
    I side with Lee.  Knowing that my Father in Heaven awaits me when my time is up is a very peaceful way to live.  
    One either chooses to live in anxiety or live in faith.
    Choices is what we have in this life so believing in God, my creator is what I choose.
    Thanks again for bringing this very important subject to light.Guy Martin

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