Such Love

Inevitable. Unavoidable. Inescapable. Even in the post-modern flush of our day, when apparently the only absolute is there are no absolutes, we all know some things in life are simply bound to happen … absolutely certain. Perhaps no two certainties are more universally accepted than death and taxes. At least, most of us assume the inevitable nature of death, which has served as a standard for the assurance of taxation in western thinking since Daniel Defoe linked death and taxes in 1726. Nearly 100 years later, Benjamin Franklin famously declared, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Perhaps it is part of our human nature, though, to try to escape the inescapable. Tell a child, “Don’t touch,” and they will race to touch. Tell a man, “You have to do such and such,” and he will set himself to prove you wrong. Some of our race have become quite adept, even profitable, at the discovery and manipulation of loop holes in tax laws to avoid the proverbially unavoidable – taxes. None but the most deluded of us, however, can lay claim to keeping from death its due. Regardless of the value or credence a person assigns to religion, we all know that all living things die, including people. Some folks may get out of taxes, but no one gets around death.

Still, I am most surprised by how surprised we are when death happens in our circles of influence. We know death is coming, but we seem to buzz on with living as if everybody dies except us and those we love. Then we are positively shocked that death would touch us. Margaret Mitchell quipped in her little 1936 book, Gone with the Wind, “Death, taxes, and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them.” Surely, death is difficult to calendar, unless we employ unnatural means to that end. We should not be surprised, though, when death happens, should we?

Twist #1: I forget when or where this concept was introduced to me, but an idea about death set my feet on a path to life. The observable discomfort and borderline rebellion of our nature’s against death suggests we were not made to die. Think about this. The reason we find death itself unreasonable and unwelcome is simply that God did not mean for us to die.

God created man to enjoy eternal, unfettered bliss. He did not fashion Adam and Eve to die after 80 years in Eden. In fact, when Adam sinned, and all mankind was cursed, God expelled them from the garden and set a guard to prevent them from entering again in their now fallen state. Why? Because, if they stayed in the Garden of Eden they could have continued to eat from the Tree of Life and never die. Although, that sounds like a good thing, God knows to live forever in such a condition as to be alienated from Him is not really living at all. We were designed by God to live forever and to live forever in joyful communion with Him.

Twist #2: Wonderful! We were not made to taste death. However, now the only way to experience eternal life is to experience death. Now we must die if we will ever live. Now we learn that death is actually a special part of God’s plan.

Every day my prayers include petitions, intercessions really, for friends and family members who struggle. Some of the people I care for fight through hurt and heartache and pain and loss. Dreams bludgeoned, careers and savings lost, marriages broken, and health stolen away – these are all reminders to me of the minor inevitable, death.

To be sure, we will all face various degrees of devastation and loss. The lesser reason for this is that the minor inevitable, death, casts a saturating specter over all the inhabitants of these shadowlands, this twisted earth of fallen mankind. The greater reason is that God wants to demonstrate to each of us the major inevitable, His love.

The past two weeks, God has totally overwhelmed me with His love. He mercifully and graciously stopped me in my tracks by the awesome revelation of His great love for me and for you. Hear what His word says:

Look at how great a love the Father has given us, that we should be called God’s children. And we are! (1 John 3:1).

But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Can you make the connection with me? Taxes are not as inevitable as death, after all. People evade taxes every year, but no one eludes death. Get this, though: death (and all its offspring – sickness, suffering, sorrow) is not as inevitable as love, God’s love for you and me! To prove this, God gave His One and Only Son, Jesus, to die for us. Now, His love has made death little more than a door for us who know, love, believe, trust, and obey Him to pass through on the way Home. For us, death serves as a billboard on our journey to remind us to see everything, every pain and sorrow, every disease and disaster, every limit and loss, against the backdrop of His love for us.

God settled once and for all His love for us when Jesus died in our place. Now we know that anything that comes our way must pass through the Father’s heart and be shaped to serve His love for us. God is so powerful and He loves us so much that even death must serve His love for us. Whatever you are going through, God is saying through it, “Child, I love you. I love you with the same love that kept Jesus on the cross for you – eternal, unchanging, inevitable love.”

Pastor Rob