The Way of All the Earth
When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son. “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. ––1 Kings 2:1-3
Every living creature on the planet is destined to die. Every insect, plant, tree, animal, bird, and human being. The inevitability of it isn’t something most of us think about often, but there it is. Inescapable.
For God’s man, the question isn’t so much when we will die, but how we will approach it. Starting right now. As I often say, nothing is fatal or final—even death. What we often fail to realize is that as eternal beings, God knew us before we conceived. Sure, the flesh and bones we inhabit will go the way of all the earth, but the spirit will not. And that’s true for everyone—eternity with God, or eternity apart from Him. Paul tells us,
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. ––Ephesians 1:3-4
The idea of being chosen by God should be incredibly encouraging to all of us. He knew the year, month, day, and hour you would be born. Nothing was accidental or random. You aren’t just His creation, You are one of His chosen children. Even more, life in God has no end—that’s the very definition of eternal. The best part of you—your spirit—will simply move from this realm to the next.
It’s important that we keep that eternal kingdom perspective. When we wake up with an eternal mindset—rather than a material one focused on the pains of the flesh—it calibrates us spiritually. It’s like synchronizing our spiritual clocks to be in sync with God’s time zone. A zone—or realm—that transcends chronological time.
Death is inevitable, but it’s not final. Paul says it so well:
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
––1 Corinthians 5:55
Father, admittedly I have fears about my death. However, I know that through Jesus my death has been swallowed up in victory. Thank you for that miracle!