For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. (2 Cor. 5:14)
As a hospital chaplain, I have witnessed the deaths of many people. I was with one couple who had been married for over sixty years when the time was getting short. The husband looked at his wife and said, “When you go, come back and take me with you.” She lovingly smiled at him and said, “I will but not right away. I need a little break.” She passed away peacefully later that night surrounded by her loving family.
Love is embracing energy that can impact the world even beyond the grave. The most compelling love of all is Christ’s love, which incorporates Christians into his death. In dying, Christ opened the way for Christians to die with Christ. This death enables those who follow Christ to live for the one who was raised from death to life. This means that Christians are those who do not need to fear physical death as it draws us even closer to the source of compelling love.
The love of Christ can be more compelling than the fear of death. The life that Christians find in Christ no longer belongs to the self exclusively but also to God. This is a radical act of freedom from the metaphorical and physical forces of death that suppress the fullness of life. Death is one step along the journey of resurrected life.
Accept the compelling love of Christ to start living a resurrected life.
Scott Donahue-Martens lives outside of Boston. He is on staff at Awaken City Wesleyan Church and is completing a PhD in practical theology.
© 2022 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
