This afternoon I had the pleasure to visit with a near 93 year old member of my church. Ms. Ray can no longer walk, has loss over half of her muscle mass, and has to rely on near constant care. I asked her after an hour of talking, how I could pray for her, to which she responded with tears in her eyes, "You know I'm just so thankful how God has cared for me." There is much that Ms. Ray could complain about but instead she is thankful.
The other interesting thing I found in the conversation was how comfortable Ms. Ray was with talking about death. She spoke of her own mortality with tremendous peace in a very matter of fact manner. As I spoke of the Gospel and the celebration of Easter, I could see the hope in her eyes of her own resurrection and heavenly body which awaited her.
This visit confirmed my initial feelings about the contemplation of death, and that being that Christians should find tremendous encouragement and comfort in all our present sufferings when we meditate on death. Ms. Ray was confident of the eternal hope she has and therefore her present sufferings could only affect her but so much. Whenever we read the words of the apostle Paul in the New Testament we get the same picture. Despite his imprisonment, physical ailments, isolation, and "thorn" Paul rejoices and looks forward to death. The gain of death makes his present sufferings not only bearable, but opportunities for worship.
James speaks of the perfection of our faith which is gain through suffering. Clearly, we know that our faith and endurance is never perfected in this life and so what I believe the apostle is hinting at is that this life will be marked by suffering but it prepares us and enables us to draw true joy and fullness in our death. When our eyes are fixed on the Kingdom and the glorious bodies we will enjoy then at the banquet table of the Lamb, then we will we are able to endure a great many sufferings in this present life.
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