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Transcript 375B — Isn't it Better to Die Than to Live?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes. I'd like to ask you a question. If a Christian goes to be with the Lord as soon as he dies, then why is it that no one wants to die? Wouldn't it be better to die and be with the Lord in Heaven than to be on this earth?
HC: The question is: If it is so marvelous to know that when we die as a Christian we go to be with the Lord, then why are we so objecting to death? Why do we try so hard to sustain life to the last moment?
The reason is that our eyes are not sufficiently focused on Heaven. The reason is that we have driven our tent pins too deeply into this earth. We're too enamored by this earth.
But those who have become more and more spiritually involved with Christ, who really see the real relationship that a believer has with Christ, begin to say other things. The apostle Paul, for example, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, "I would rather be absent from the body and present with the Lord." This is really his desire, to be present with the Lord.
I have known elderly people, who have lived out their lives, and who pray that the Lord might take them, because they had come to the end of their life. I think that any child of God who really is growing in grace begins to sense more and more what a joy it would be if Christ would take him. Therefore, if we as born again believers would become acquainted with the fact that we have terminal cancer, or that our life span is going to be greatly foreshortened because of some physical disability, it really is not traumatic. It really is not. It really should be a source of really joy to this person.
Of course there is the fact that we have loved ones. There is the fact that we have these human relationships. But we must remember that our loved ones, too, are left in the hands of God. We simply are departing from them briefly, until we will see them when they come to be with Christ, also.
CALLER: Thank you very much.
HC: You're welcome. Good night.