Yesterday, I stood on a verdant Pennsylvania hillside, an azure sky overhead, and watched as our daughter and son-in-law laid to rest one of their two-month-old twin sons.
Little Mac had slept away into Jesus’ arms during the night hours, and our lives will never be the same. For one thing, he turned heaven from theology into geography for us. Its reality grips you when someone you love moves in there.
Sorrow concentrates our minds wonderfully on what matters most. That early morning phone call made the rising price of gasoline and the Dow Jones Industrial seem as trivial to me as the color of Tuesday.
As I observed the tortured grief on the young couple’s faces, my heart cried out to “the God of all comfort” (2 Cor 1:3) to come to their aid. Of course He did. I watched in amazement as the Whys? and What ifs? subsided like the stormy sea at Christ’s command, replaced by settled trust in Him.
One friend reminded us of the disciples when, in a crisis, others were turning away. Jesus asked if they would also leave, and Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (Jn 6:68) He was right. It’s either run to Jesus or drop into hopeless despair. Resorting to pills or liquor as memory inhibitors or dabbling in make-believe only makes matters worse.
Later, Peter wrote of four precious commodities we should all have in our portfolios, especially in these uncertain times. The first was trust in God. I watched this rise in my children’s souls like the sun breaking through dark clouds. “That the genuineness of your faith, being much more PRECIOUS than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 1:7)
But on what is this faith founded? On the vacuous platitudes of formal religion? On the make-believe of baby cherubs? On our own efforts at goodness? No. Here are Jesus’ own words: “Let the little children come to Me…for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 19:14)
Though little children who have not rebelled against God are safe in Jesus’ arms, what about us? God has an answer for that, too. “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers but with the PRECIOUS blood of Christ.” (1 Pet 1:19) This is the only currency God accepts as payment for our guilty souls. It alone provides certain hope.
By accepting this priceless gift, lives are transferred from the shifting sands of human opinion to an immovable foundation: “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and PRECIOUS.” (1 Pet 2:4)
Where do we find such iron-clad assurance? In the Bible, of course, “by which have been given to us exceedingly great and PRECIOUS promises.” (2 Pet 1:4) And God always stands by His Word.
So wait till the story ends, when we meet the lives forever impacted by the passing of children like little Mac. The Lord would not allow such a costly expense without expecting a very good return.
And now I have another precious investment in the First Bank of Heaven.
Jabe Nicholson of Starkville and his wife, Louise, have 17 grandchildren on earth and now one in heaven. Reach him at [email protected] or visit www.uplook.org
Religion Page article in the Starkville Dispatch by Jabe Nicholson for Sunday, November 7, 2021.