Philippians 1: 23 – 24 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.”

We all have people in our lives that we love dearly, and we cannot bear the thought of ever being separated from them. The inconvenient truth however is that at some point we will be, because their destiny is separate from our own.  We do not own our loved ones although we use the possessive pronoun “my” when we refer to them. Paul was very conscious of his mortality and every so often in his writings to various groups of believers he would remind them of the fact that the earth is not the believer’s final destination. In Romans 8 he reminds us of the future glory which awaits each believer. In his letter to the Philippians we see his own conflict with the idea of having to choose between continuing to live here with those whom he loved deeply and being ready to depart to be with Christ. He concluded that to be with Christ is far better but that while he still lived there was much work for him to do.

Sometime ago I received news of the passing of a young woman in our church family. She had not been married for very long and had been ill for several months. Her church family had prayed and prayed and everyone believed she had been healed. She testified that she had been and was feeling very well. All the tests the doctors ran after treatment were normal and she was looking forward to returning to work. Then she began to experience headaches but decided she would bring that up at her next follow-up appointment. Two days prior to that appointment she was suddenly struck down by an aneurism of the brain. Naturally the news of her passing shook everyone. When I received the news I was sitting at my dining table sobbing and trying to wrap my mind around it. I thought of her husband and her Mom in particular and I prayed: “Holy Spirit, help us understand.” The Holy Spirit responded immediately with two words: “far better”. I reached for my Bible and found the reference in the verse quoted above.

The dilemma certainly is that we want our loved ones to be with us but when they become gravely ill, do we want them to be here to continue suffering? Of course we are conflicted. Some will pass on as this young lady did. In her case, when the initial stabs of our pain had subsided and our confusion dissipated, we were able to remember that in the months before her passing she had become like a shining light and seemed more confident of her faith in God than ever before. She had ministered to other patients in hospital and to her visitors as well. She had smiled often and looked beautiful in the variety of head wraps that she wore. And now she has been translated into the kingdom of light in the presence of her God. Far better for her! So yes, our tears did flow but not as those who have no hope.