"Lord, I don't ask that I should win, but please, please don't let me finish behind Akabusi."
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting, 1 Corinthians 15:55I read this week of an elite golfer who said that he hoped to live until he was 130 or 140 and was sure it was possible! People have strange ways of dealing with the certainty of death. All of have to face up to the reality of death – whether of a grandparent, parent, maybe someone younger or indeed ourselves. Covid 19 has somehow brought death closer to many of us.
Paul faced death head-on, challenging it, laughing at the idea that death could ever have the victory. Paul didn’t worry about death because he knew what came next! For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2 Corinthians 5:1.
Elsewhere, Paul wrote: We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8
Ian Bradley expressed it well: “The Easter Sunday message is that death and darkness are decisively vanquished and we need no longer fear them”.
I loved Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s Easter tweet: ‘“One day we're gonna close our eyes to the sky for the last time. But the last time will be the first time of a whole new life”
Give thanks to God that Jesus has defeated death and that you share his victory.