Anna Young
In 1513, Spanish Explorer Juan Ponce de Leon set out searching for the Fountain of Youth, a fabled water source that is said to bring eternal youth…and ended up in Florida. The Fountain of Youth tourist attraction is still open in St. Augustine, Florida, where you can experience such “magic” for 19.99 plus tax per person.
All jokes aside, not much has changed since the 16th century; our culture is still searching for the fountain of youth. From retinol creams and Botox that promise “anti-aging”, to healthy lifestyle blogs that advertise vitamins and exercise regimens that could add up to 5 years to our life, the search continues. Caring about our health and well-being is certainly necessary for stewarding the life and body that God has graciously given us. But acting as if death can be avoided, circumvented, or delayed is delusional at best. We want to be immortal, but we fail to realize we already are. God not only breathed earthly life into humanity in Genesis, He breathed eternal life. We are eternal beings, created for eternity.
Our culture doesn’t like talking about death. It is a lot easier to ignore or dismiss it. As Christians, we face death in the same way we face life…by facing the cross. Recently my pastor was preaching on Luke 7, the passage that highlights Jesus raising the widow’s son. In my pastor’s sermon about this resurrection, he referenced the nature of a funeral procession. When a procession occurs, cars pull over out of reverence. Nothing stops the funeral procession, neither traffic lights nor stop signs. In Luke 7, Jesus stops the funeral procession for the widow’s son by raising her dead son to life. Our life can be seen as a funeral procession; with every mile driven and each day lived, we are one step closer to the grave. On the cross, Jesus stopped the funeral procession for you. A great exchange occurs. You deserve death, but He takes your place in the casket, by taking His place on the cross.
As pro-life people, we should not shy away from the topic of death. We should embrace the conversation as we speak for life, providing life-affirming alternatives to abortion, assisted-suicide, and euthanasia. We know that death is not a solution to the sufferings of life because we recognize that death holds no power over Christians anymore. Death has lost its sting. Death is not the end of the story.
We won’t find a secret potion to live forever on earth and we won’t find a fountain in Florida that keeps us young, why would we want to? As adopted children of the Heavenly Father, our perspective on death is unique. We have a place prepared for us in heaven. We have a life far greater ahead. In the same breath, we confess that we have a life that is a gift here. It is full of suffering, aging, and agony, but it all points to the Father. It points to His mercy, His goodness, and His plans over ours. If we truly believe Jesus is Lord over all, we believe that we are brought into this world by Him and we will be taken out of this world and into His arms by Him. We live our lives with humility knowing that His ways are higher. Falling into death for Christians is just like falling asleep. We prepare for death, but more importantly, we prepare for eternal life. May we live each day preparing for both life and death by looking to Jesus, who gives us life through His death and both hope and promise through His resurrection.