June 1, 2015
♦Yesterday I was with my wife’s sister’s family as they stood watch with my brother-in-law, Rod. He is walking through the valley of the shadow of death on his way home to heaven. It is 4:30 AM and I cannot sleep for thinking about it. The reality of death is one of those burdens on the human condition which is impossibly too heavy for us to carry by ourselves.
♦When I was a kid, on the High-School football team, I used to work out in weight room doing bench presses. When you were using free weights you always had a spotter who was watching over you in case the load you were lifting got to the point where you just couldn’t quite lift the weights one more repetition. The spotter’s job was to grab the bar and add his strength to your final lift and help you to safely seat the weight bar back on the stand so you would not be pinned under a weight you could no longer carry. Life in this world wears us out. Each day the weight of a fallen world weighs us down and takes a little more of our human vitality. Depending on our individual physical constitution and circumstances of life, each of us has only so much strength. There comes a day in each of our lives when it is our last day and no matter how much we try, we come to our last breath of our last day of the last minute of the last hour. The struggle of life is too heavy and death bears down seeking to crush out our very existence.
♦Death is a dumbbell too heavy for any of us to carry, but praise God Rod has Someone who has already carried this weight and is spotting for Him. Jesus is right next to His bed and in His heart. Christ worked it out to take care of Rod’s final lift when He carried the load of his sin on the cross of Calvary. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” If today is the day Rod breathes his mortal, last the Lord Jesus will carry him all the way home. Death is not too heavy with Jesus. On the third day our Savior lifted out of the grave and won a great victory for all who would allow Jesus to carry their burden of sin.
♦Left to ourselves sin is such a heavy load it presses us into the grave and eternally away from the God who loves us. Psalm 14:1 “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” The fool thinks he can face death by himself. Sadly mistaken they will find a weight greater than they can carry without Christ. I praise God Rod has Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Sincerely Yours Because Jesus Lifted for Me,
Pastor John Schofield
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