Tag: death

There is a good chance we’ll get there with DIRTY FEET

On By AaronIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Recently, I was dispatched to assist our local police department in a death notification.  A woman had committed suicide and we had the duty to notify her mother.  It is among the most difficult things that a police officer must do.  I have done them as a police officer and now I have done a handful as a chaplain.  I am always amazed at how different the experience is as a chaplain.  It is not better, it is not worse, it is just different.

Today, the officer’s heart was on his sleeve as he interacted with the family.  He gently answered their questions, I could tell that in his heart, he wanted to be able to undo what had been done; to remove the grief from this family; to take away their pain.  He had all the rapport with the family, and I was of little help except to ask a few questions about arrangements and then to conclude the encounter in prayer.  They appeared to be a church going family that had not been able to attend recently due to Covid and the elderly status of the mother.  They were comfortable with and even appreciative of my prayer.

“Suicide is not an unforgivable sin and there is the same hope for one who dies as the result of suicide as there is at the death of any of our loved ones.”

There are very few pains that rise to the level of that experienced by those left behind by suicide.  So many regrets and so many questions.  Among them is the question of hope.  Can we hope to see our loved one who has committed suicide again?  I am going to be right up front and then explain; suicide is not an unforgivable sin and there is the same hope for one who dies as the result of suicide as there is at the death of any of our loved ones.  Jesus is that hope!

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.  Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him (Joh 13:1-5).”

“Jesus knew that His hour had come.”

Jesus knew that His hour had come.  Jesus knew that He was to be the sacrifice that would cleanse the world of sin.  And in this moment, he gets up and prepares to wash His disciple’s feet.

“He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”  Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”  Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me (Joh 13:6-8).”

This was classic Peter.  It makes sense.  Should you allow the creator of all creation to wash your feet?  Probably not… It could be a test.  But, Jesus rebukes Peter and there is little surprise here.  Peter is probably getting used to this.  However, in His rebuke, Jesus connects what is happening now, the washing of feet, to an understanding of what Jesus is going to do soon, wash us all of our sins, and He reassures them that when it is done, they will understand.  Furthermore, Jesus leaves out Peter’s feet in the rebuke; “If I do not wash you…”  That’s significant.

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean (Joh 13:9-11).”

“The cleansing that Jesus was about to accomplish, on the cross, was going to be complete.”

Again, classic Peter.  Do not just wash my feet then, wash my hands and my head.  But Jesus comment next is what intrigues me; He brings Peter back to the washing of his feet but in the context of a complete wash. “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean (Joh 13:10).”  The cleansing that Jesus was about to accomplish, on the cross, was going to be complete.  Jesus was going to wash us of all our sins leaving nothing behind.  Not one blemish.  The moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior that cleansing is ours and we are clean!

The problem is that we do not immediately go to be with the Lord.  It begs the question, “If the purpose of all creation is our salvation through redemption then why are we to remain here once we are saved?”  The answer is that at the moment of our salvation our lives are no longer our own and are no longer about us.  They are about those Jesus who Jesus also loves; those who are still dead in their sins.  We are left to walk this world in service to those who need Jesus that they might accept His offer of eternal life.  What that means is that our feet are going to get dirty.

“There is so much dirt that can get on our feet.”

That dirt could be the discouragement of a loved one who does not accept Jesus.  That dirt could be the discouragement of not receiving a well-earned promotion or recognition of our work.  The dirt could be the discouragement that comes with the loss of a loved one or the loss of a loved relationship.  And in those moments of discouragement when we fall back into whatever sin is most comfortable that dirt sticks to our feet.  There is so much dirt that can get on our feet.

To persevere, in order to remain close to God as we ambassador for Him we need to wash our feet and wash the feet of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We confess our sins because He is faithful to forgive them (1Jo 1:9).  It is in these moments that we begin to believe the lie that we are not forgiven; that we are somehow not good enough!  Adam Clarke comments that,  “he who is washed—who is justified through the blood of the Lamb, needeth only to wash his feet—to regulate all his affections and desires; and to get, by faith, his conscience cleansed from any fresh guilt, which he may have contracted since his justification.”  The blood of Christ has already cleansed us of yesterday’s sins, today’s sins, and tomorrow’s sins but our own guilty conscience will keep us from a close walk with God; it will keep us from being effective for God.  Unless we confess, we keep ourselves from God and when we confess, He is faithful in reminding us that we have been cleansed.  Where we go wrong is thinking that our new sin disqualifies us from salvation.

“There is a good chance we could enter heaven with dirty feet.”

If we make that false assumption, then it becomes absolutely necessary that before our death we must confess our very last sin lest we die in transgression.  I do not know about you, but I have been close to death and in what could have been the last moment of my life I dropped some foul language that could have bordered on blasphemy.  Had that been my last moment would I have died apart from salvation!  Absolutely not!  Does this give us license to sin with impunity?  Absolutely not!

What this means then is that there is a good chance we could enter heaven with dirty feet.  Do not get me wrong, none of that dirt will get into heaven but there is a good chance that we could show up at the door to heaven with dirt on our feet.  Would God turn us away?  Not if at some point we had already repented of all our sins and accepted His free gift.

“What a comfort it will be for them to know that I have gone to be with the Lord no matter the circumstances of my death.”

What does this mean for the hope of those who have lost a loved one to suicide?  Bottom line, suicide is not an automatic disqualifier.  I did not know the person who died today.  I do not know if she had accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.  If she had then her salvation is assured.  Her disobedience was punished on the cross and her last act of disobedience is no more disqualifying than the rest of the dirt that will fall from her feet as she steps across the threshold of heaven.  That is my hope for her and that is my hope for all the deceased I encounter in the course of my duties.  Delivering the news that a loved one has died is no easy task.  It is made easier with the hope that the deceased person is with the Lord.  An act of suicide is a disobedient act just like any other disobedient act.  And because Jesus’ work on the cross is sufficient for every disobedient act suicide can not remove the hope of eternal salvation any more than any other act of disobedience.

What I want my law enforcement brethren to know is that when we deliver the message to a family that their loved one has committed suicide, we are not giving them a message of hopelessness.  What I want everyone to know who makes it all the way through this message is that apart from Christ there is no hope.  Turn to him now.  Don’t wait! One day my wife and/or my mother will receive the news that I have passed from this life to the next. What a comfort it will be for them to know that I have gone to be with the Lord no matter the circumstances of my death.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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Duck, duck, goose… the Loneliness of this Life and the Life to Come.

On By AaronIn Uncategorized1 Comment

“To belong to the Lord is to never have to say good-by forever.”

I have been working through the five foundational doctrines of the Christian faith and the next one that I should be commenting on is that of Faith in God.  However, I’m going to postpone those thoughts in favor of some thoughts on the resurrection of the dead.

I am a volunteer chaplain at our local police and fire department.  This morning I was dispatched to a death in which the mother of four who had been taking care of her elderly father awoke to find her father had died sometime in the night.  I arrived to find a grief-stricken woman who described a new level of loneliness at the loss of her father.  I wanted to tell her that her father was in a better place.  I wanted to tell her that she would see him again.  But I did not know either her or her father and so the truth is I did not know if those things were true.  I asked her if there was any spiritually significant person that I could call, a pastor, a counselor, or a priest, and she told me that she had not been to church in a long time.  I asked her where the body of her father was and where and how her children were responding.

Then I asked her if I could pray and she answered, “yes, I would very much like that.”  We bowed our heads, and the desire of my heart was to pray that God had received her father and remind this woman that she would see him again, but I did not.  Instead, I prayed for comfort, wisdom, and grace for this woman as she navigated this new reality with her husband and children.  As I concluded the prayer with an “amen” I saw a framed picture hanging on the wall that read, “To belong to the Lord is to never have to say good-by forever.”  That was encouraging.  Maybe she and her family knew Jesus.

“Apart from a future resurrection what hope do I, as a representative of Christ, have to offer?

Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says, “…if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain (1Cor 15:13-15).”  Apart from a future resurrection what hope do I, as a representative of Christ, have to offer this woman?  If it is true that all there is to this life is that which we see now, then her father is gone to her forever and she will one day be gone to her children as well.  “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied (1 Co 15:19).”

This is not an insignificant point.  It is connected to the doctrine of dead works.  If each of us is morally responsible for our actions and because all our good works can never cover for our bad works then all our works are dead.  But if our faith is in the work of Christ and its ability or sufficiency to atone for our bad works and that atonement is only sufficient for this life then what do we have?  At best we have a motivational poster.  A motivational poster that will motivate only until we die.

“What a hope!”

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive (1Co 15:20-22).”  What a hope!  Not only to be raised alive but to be raised alive and found righteous in the judgment to come!  But there is a rub; you have to be in Christ.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Joh 3:16).”  And that is why I could not pray a prayer of hope without the knowledge of this woman and her father’s standing in Christ.  To do so would have been to offer a false hope.  A false hope is a pitiful hope.  But I was encouraged by the words on her wall and my hope is that she, and her family, are in Christ.

As I spent the rest of the morning with this family there came a time when we were all in the back yard.  The body of her father was being moved and mom did not want her or her children’s last memory of her father to be of that move.  So, we moved the family to the back yard until her father could be removed from the house.  I watched as the four children played a game of duck, duck, goose in the small patch of grass that was their yard.  Dad shot hoops with kid sized basket balls and mom stood to the side on the phone with her sister and I could not help but note the tone of loneliness in her voice.  It was in that moment that I understood that in the center of her family this woman felt alone at the loss of her father.

The Christian hope is in an eternal resurrection founded on the resurrection of Christ.  One day, I will step into that eternity and Jesus will take my hand and welcome me home.  But who will we find in that home?  Hopefully, our loved ones and those closest to us are saved and what a blessing when we know that they are.  But as I stood in this family’s backyard it occurred to me that if they are saved, along with her family, I will recognize them and they will recognize me in eternity.  This is true because God, in His infinite wisdom, saw fit to cross our paths at this moment in time.  A moment of loneliness that when the Christian hope is realized will become a moment of eternal familiarity.

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day (Joh 6:35-40).”  Don’t wait… look to Jesus and live!  Share him with your friends and family that they might live too.  Live your life in such a way that you don’t hinder their acceptance of Him.  One day our loneliness will turn to an eternity of familiar communion with one another.

Before I sign off I do want to take this time to thank the first responders involved in todays encounter. It never ceases to amaze me at the kindness and caring that can come from some of the toughest people I know. They can hold the line toe to toe with anyone but it is their tenderness that is most impressive. Thanks for all that you do.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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