Death and Hope

Death has long caused man to ponder its meaning? Is death a person’s total elimination? If so, does death negate the purpose and meaning of our lives?

First, is death our total-elimination? I hope not and hope that there is more to life than we’re born, live briefly, and die into oblivion. It is said that hope gives purpose and meaning to life. Hope is to life as oxygen is to the lungs. Our sense of life’s purpose and meaning depends on the hope that there is more to us both now and after death. 

Hope requires faith. Paul advocates placing faith in the “God of hope (who will) fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him…” (Romans 15:13). Faith also justifies us with God (Romans 5:1), meaning that we are better positioned to be with Him eternally, because we are His friend rather than His opposition or skeptic.

How to have faith? Paul advocates the we seek God’s spirit—the Holy Spirit that lives within us— and attempt to live in a way that pleases the Spirit. He says, “The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:8). For me, this prospect of eternal life provides hope that death is not final and hope through faith is worth having.

( Some of this blog’s content comes from “The Bible in One Year” app of Nicki and Pippa Gumbel. See Day 213 “Bring People Hope.”)