Inner Peace In Face of Death
How can a person have an inner peace, or peace of mind, even in the face of death? What gives a dying person hope and peace even when (in pain) they know they are going to die?
In February, 1997 my father died. We had known somewhat that death was coming. He had been ailing increasingly worse for over a year. Still it was an extremely sad time for us.
My father was a 'young' 72-year old who was never ill until that accident that led to his death. Unless you have lost a loved one, it is difficult to imagine the pain of losing your dad.
Just a few days before his passing, I had taken our year old toddler to see her grandpa. We shared his pain, his misery, and even his jokes - he was a funny man.
Of all the things he managed to get past the pain medication, I remember this statement: "Son, don't you worry. Just make sure you meet me on the other side."
A Christian with Heaven's hope
My father carried the hope of living forever with him to the grave. He knew that the end of life on this earth is just a punctuation mark in the story of eternal life in the hereafter.
That hope was comforting to him as he faced death and especially to us (the bereaved) when he died.
Some people are still wondering why I haven't cried even now - and I haven't. It's not emotional strength, because I have gone to tears for simpler concerns. It is the comfort and inner peace of heaven's hope.
Remembering that he said, "don't worry", and that he knew and believed that death is just a sleep (see John 11) gives me that inner peace that makes for a grieving without the weep.
1 Corinthians 15:19 says, "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." - NIV
In other words, we would be in a pitiful state if there were no after life. But there is life after death. But unless this becomes more than just a popular theory, we cannot have that inner peace that transcends the fear of dying.
But how do we find this hope, and hence this peace?
I find that without the comforting joy and expectancy of heaven, life is meaningless and hopeless. is there any surprise then that so many deaths are attributed to suicide every year?
The Bible is true, if the present life had the only ray of hope, we'd be miserable. That hope made allowed my dad to die in peace. He, like Abraham, looked for a better place - heaven. Of Abraham, it is written:
Heb 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
No one wants to die, and no one wants to die without that inner peace with God. Embrace the hope that heaven offers today. You'll be eternally glad you did.