RELEASING YOUR LIFE THROUGH YOUR DEATH

RELEASING LIFE THROUGH YOUR DEATH
By Robert Fitts

    One of the amazing and glorious realities of life is that we are able to almost completely ignore the fact that someday we will die.  The specter of death does not hang over us like a dark cloud, making it impossible to enjoy life day after day because of a nagging fear that "today might be the day that I die."  There is not even a faint, subconscious, recurring thought, "someday I'm going to die".  I may think about it from time to time, but it does not torment me daily.

    Death happens to everyone.  It could come at any time, either suddenly or slowly.  It knocks on every door and eventually we all have to answer that call.  It is a miracle that we live as long as we do in the light of the innumerable things that cause people to die . . . diseases, killer virus, germs, warfare, accidents, murder, heart attacks, terrorist attacks, strokes . . . and on and on.

    The Bible admonishes us to "number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom".  Numbering our days means that we must take into account that we will not live forever on this earth and that the day of our death is as certain as the day of our birth. We have only so many years to finish what we feel we were sent into the world to accomplish.  Life is a cycle that has a beginning, middle, and end. Life is a temporary assignment.

    The Bible does not take a negative or somber view of death.  It speaks of death as something that does not have to be a chilling, forbidden arena of darkness and grief, but a passing from this realm into another that can be a time of celebration rather than a time of anguish and sorrow.

    Jesus Christ gave some very encouraging promises about dying.  He said that those who believe in him would never die but would live forever and ever.  He said, "He who believes on me shall never see death . . . shall never taste of death."   According to this promise, the death of a believer is not like the death of an unbeliever.  There is a difference.  Even though all depart this life and leave this body, we do not all die, or experience death, in the same way.

    The Bible says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."  There is something precious to God about the passing of a Christian.  One thing we need to keep in mind is that once we die we leave this body behind.  My spirit does not; cannot stay in my body.  If death does nothing else, it separates my body from my spirit.  The Bible says that we will be given a new body when we depart this one.

    I have a body, but I am a spirit.  One day I will leave this body and I will not come back to see how it's doing.  I will not feel anything in that body again.  That part of my existence is over.  It will not matter to me what happens to my body after I die.  I will no longer be attached to it in any way.  Some people die and are buried.  Some die and their bodies cannot be buried.  Some drown in the sea and that becomes their place of burial; their bodies are never recovered.  Thousands in recent wars were completely incinerated.  Some were blown to pieces by powerful explosives.  It will not matter what happens to my body after I die.  I will not feel a thing for I will not be there.  I will be gone.

    This is not to say that your body is unimportant or that there will not be a resurrection of your physical body.  The teachings of Jesus and the apostles give us that hope firmly established in many places throughout the New Testament.  Those who die in the Lord will certainly rise again with a glorified body, a perfect body, whether they were eaten by lions, or burned at the stake, or whether their bodies disintegrated in the sea or in the grave over the years.  We will still have our personalities intact, and physical features that people who have known us on earth will recognize in heaven.  I will still be me and you will still be you, but a much better me and a much better you, for we shall be like Jesus!  (I Corinthians 15:35-58 and II Corinthians 5:1-4)

    Aside from the spiritual considerations surrounding the event of my death, there are the practical aspects that face those I leave behind.  They are faced with many details, the most immediate of which is what to do with my dead body.  Wisdom says to make that preparation long before the event and make sure you have enough insurance to cover the cost of the funeral, the coffin, the gravesite, and other details.

    The high cost of living is now being rivaled by the HIGH COST OF DYING!   The average funeral now costs around $6,000.  The death and burial industry has become just that . . . an industry!  Huge conglomerates are rapidly buying up local funeral homes and the cost of dying is getting higher and higher as the funeral industry comes ever closer to becoming a monopoly with the ability to fix funeral prices.

    A few years ago I was reading through a missions magazine and came across an interesting little clip that was admonishing Christians to step away from traditional funerals and do something sacrificial and life-giving in the event of their death.  The article said, "Make it plain in your will that you want your body cremated at a fraction of the cost of a traditional funeral and that you want the funds that would have gone into your traditional funeral sent to the missionary organization of your choice to help proclaim the message of God's love to the millions who have not yet heard." 
   
    As I read this I was impacted with that thought and, over the years God has added to it in my mind and given me a plan that I call RELEASING LIFE THROUGH YOUR DEATH.

    One of the most beautiful funerals I ever attended was not really a funeral at all, at least in the traditional sense.  The "Celebration" was held in the church of which the deceased was a member.  The husband was present along with many friends and loved ones.  There was no casket up front.  Her body had been cremated. There was a long table in front of the pulpit covered with some of the things, beautifully arranged, that this lady held dear in her lifetime.  There were also pictures of her and her family along with an urn containing her ashes.  The pastor said a few words and read from the Bible some appropriate passages and then opened up the meeting for family and friends to come to the front and tell how this lady’s life had blessed their lives.  That part of the celebration took over an hour, an hour that seemed to pass all too quickly.  It was wonderful!

    That "funeral" became a part of the scenario that was beginning to take shape in my mind about funerals.  It has taken more than fifteen years for all the pieces to come together but now I am confident that I need to make a bold statement about what I want to happen to my body when I leave it.  But that is only one part of the project.  The other part is to communicate this vision to the Body of Christ and pray that it will go out to all nations and make some radical changes in the way that we arrange the commemoration of our passing from this life to the next.

    I believe our "passing" can become a great blessing to those we leave behind.  We can so arrange the details of our "Celebration" that our dying will bring forth the birthing of new life, both physical and spiritual. The following is a simple explanation of this plan:

    1. Prearrange to have no grave-site, no coffin, no funeral, no cremation, but rather a "Graduation Celebration."

    2. Choose DONATION rather than CREMATION.  Do not have your body buried or cremated, but rather give your body to those who are sick and waiting for donors to provide them with needed organs.  The cost to your family is absolutely nothing.
    There are over 78,000 people waiting for an organ transplant.  Every 14 minutes a new name is added to the UNOS  (United Network For Organ Sharing) National Transplant Waiting List.  Everyday more than 15 people die for lack of an organ.  Most people who receive "The Gift of Life" are living productive lives more than 5 years after their transplant surgery.  Donation of organs and tissue gives one the opportunity to save and enhance as many as 50 people’s lives.

    3.  Arrange to have a "Graduation Celebration" Instruct the minister that he is to present the simple message of the gospel and give an invitation to those present to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and lead them in a prayer to receive him then and there.

    4.  At that celebration all your friends who so desire should be given an opportunity to stand and say what is in their hearts about some favorite memory of you or how your life may have left an imprint on their lives.

    5.  In the event cremation is chosen rather than donation, do not let the ashes enter the picture.  Too many have made the urn containing the ashes the focus of the event and even planned a very costly "Ashes Scattering Ceremony" that includes hiring a boat or airplane to scatter the ashes over the face of the waters, etc.   This has given rise to the idea that in some way the person is still present in that urn and the urn of ashes is given special attention, sometimes in very bizarre ways. The person is GONE!  Ashes have no significance and should not be given any.  It is very important to think of that person as still alive and not think of them in the grave or in an urn in the form of ashes.

    6. Prearrange for the money that would have been used to pay for an expensive funeral to be given to a missionary organization that has a vision to reach all nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  In so doing you will be giving life both physically and spiritually.  Physically, to those who otherwise would die, in donating your organs, and spiritually, in the gift of finances for the proclamation of the good news of God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus’ death on the cross for us.

    May the Lord quicken these thoughts to a multitude of sincere Christians who are excited about making their death a beautiful event that will not only bring life to the sick and dying, but will also bring the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ into the hearts and lives of people who attend the "Graduation Celebration," and on out to every country in the world!  In so doing you will make your passing into the next life an event that will release life, both physical life and spiritual life to a multitude.