LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
I came that they may have life and have it
abundantly.” —John 10:10
As I was about to begin this devotional, I received word
that Marion Newstrum had just died. She and her husband Elmer have been part of Bethlehem longer than
most of our members have been alive. Marion was 87. They
had been married 64 years.
When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to
be strong in the Lord and not give up on life, he said, “He
has been a true friend.” I pray that all Christians will be
able to say at the end of life, “Christ has been a true friend.”
Each Advent I mark the anniversary of my mother’s
death. She was cut off in her 56th year in a bus accident in
Israel. It was December 16, 1974. Those events are incredibly real to me even today. If I allow myself, I can easily come to tears—for example, thinking that my sons never
knew her. We buried her the day after Christmas. What a
precious Christmas it was!
Many of you will feel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than before. Don’t block it out. Let it come.
Feel it. What is love for, if not to intensify our affections—
both in life and death? But, O, do not be bitter. It is tragically self-destructive to be bitter.
Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal life.
“I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly”
(John 10:10). Elmer and Marion had discussed where they
would spend their final years. Elmer said, “Marion and I
agreed that our final home would be with the Lord.”
Do you feel restless for home? I have family coming
home for the holidays. It feels good. I think the bottom
line reason for why it feels good is that they and I are destined in the depths of our being for an ultimate Homecoming. All other homecomings are foretastes. And foretastes are good.
Unless they become substitutes. O, don’t let all the
sweet things of this season become substitutes of the final
great, all-satisfying Sweetness. Let every loss and every
delight send your hearts a-homing after heaven.
Christmas. What is it but this: I came that they might
have life. Marion Newstrum, Ruth Piper, and you and I—
that we might have Life, now and forever.
Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmas
by drinking at the fountain of Forever. It is so near.
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