DEATH:
TRIUMPH IN; HEAVEN: LONGING FOR; WORLD: CONTENTMENT WITH

Death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person!…

For the Christian, death is a journey to the eternal world. It is a victory, a rest, a delight. I am sure my small amount of physical suffering in life has been mild compared with Paul’s. But I think I have some understanding of what he meant when he told the Philippians: “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.… I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.…” (Philippians 1:21, 23). The more a Christian suffers in the body, the more he or she thinks about the triumph of going home to heaven. But we modern Christians seem to be a strange breed. We are so completely satisfied with the earthly things we have collected, and we so enjoy this age’s creature comforts, that we would rather stay here for a long, long time! Probably we do not tell God about that kind of desire when we pray. We know it would not be considered pious or spiritual if people knew we preferred our position here to the prospect of heaven.

Romans 8:18–23; 2 Corinthians 4:16–18; Philippians 1:21–24

Jesus Is Victor!, 140, 141.