WHY CHRISTIANS DIE BEFORE THEIR TIME....
Isa 57:1-2
57:1 The righteous pass away; the godly often die before their time. And no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. 2 For the godly who die will rest in peace. NLT
** So, hummmm…. I don’t think I’ve ever read this verse and saw this like this before. Wow, this opens up a whole “can of worms” with the church in general. This would go back to what I preached this past Sunday about perfect will and permissive will. I’m thinking out loud…. If we walk in God’s perfect will, He knows that when evil comes we will make the right decisions and make it thru the evil times….. but if we walk in God’s permissive will, He knows that when evil comes we will not be able to overcome so He takes us home????? I guess it’s not about how long you live here on this earth, but where you spend eternity and also about the quality of life spent here….. I mean, I know that God wants us all to live long lives here on earth. But if we keep making wrong decisions even though He warns us and sends people around us to help us make right decisions, there has to be some evil in this life that with us NOT walking in His perfect will we will not be able to overcome, so He allows us to die early….. because 1 Cor. 10:13 says that anything that we are tempted with, we are able to overcome and that God will NOT let us be tempted more than we are able but with the temptation make a way for us to escape. FEED BACK…. I NEED FEED BACK!!!!!!
posted by Dave McAlister @ 7:47 AM
2 Comments
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2 Comments:
Pastor Dave,
You got the same thing I did from this scripture. I also had never seen it quite this way before. Here are some of my thoughts that I came up with on the subject:
"I remembered hearing someone say that perhaps God took people home early to protect them from some future evil. I couldn't remember who or where, but it was just recently, so I am sure it had something to do with Janet, because I have had so many thoughts about her dying so young. I have often wondered why a person who loves God and does their best to live a godly life dies at such a young age, and after reading this scripture I thought maybe that is why God took Janet home. I thought if anyone should die, it should be me considering the awful things I have done in my life. But God forgives us of our sins, past, present and future. Evil and difficult times are coming. The beginning of such times is gradually approaching and it is so gradual that most people in our country (believers and unbelievers alike) don't even realize it.
God does know what is going to happen in the future with each of His children. I have often wondered why I am still here considering the things I have been through in my life. The last 14 years have been tremendous years of instruction for me and I have had to choose over and over again to be obedient, to depend on the Lord and to trust in Him completely no matter what. That is hard to do, but by spending time with Him everyday and seeking Him in all things I have been able to endure, perservere and overcome the trials in my life. Your teaching on Sunday really explained to me the difference of God's perfect will and His permissive will in my life. I have never quite understood the difference. I believe that most us wander around in His permissive will because we want our own way. It doesn't mean we are not saved, but it means we will do some really stupid things because we just can't get both "feet" into the kingdom and trust God completely and make Him truly the Lord of our life. Our time runs out eventually and rather than see us "fall back into the pit" He takes us home. I believe we really need to have "heart after God" though. I don't think He takes everyone home early to save them from "backsliding". This makes me think of King David - he was an adulterer and a murderer because of his fleshly desires, but when his sin was placed before Him he truly repented and worshipped God and spent the rest of his life seeking God's face. That's just some of my thoughts, Pastor Dave.
Roxanne
G. Phraim
In short...allow me to reveal that this is not a matter of what we can not overcome. Both your initial comment and the previous response are quite close but still lacking. Paul says in Ephesians that the church exists to make known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places what is the manifold wisdom of God. Here we see that the focus for the life of the believer is to glorify God. In turn, the focus remains intact when we view the death of the believer. The death of a believer is a response to either one of two scenarios. Either a believer has reached spiritual maturity and is no longer fearful of death but rather expecting...and dying becomes the last and ultimate of God's graces where the believer is brought into Abraham's Bosom....glorifying God... or the consistently carnal believer experiences death as a final form of discipline and a means to protect the glory of God. Christ says that " I am the true vine...any branch that does not produce fruit is cast off and withers away" . Again in another place...He says "for this reason many of you now sleep". Remember the parable of the talents. Each person was to go forth and multiply that which was given to him. What happened to the person that brought back only the talent he had been given? As for those lives that seem to be taken before they can really live or express faith...We must simply have faith that God's ways or infinitely beyond our understanding, and his thoughts profoundly higher than ours..... G.Phraim
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