Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your prayer for a better place after this life is one that God Himself has placed in the heart, for He made you not only for this world but for heaven. The Scripture teaches that to depart and be with Christ is far better. Death itself is neither good nor bad in itself, but what follows death is either good or ill, and to be with Christ after our departure is the true good.
For those who belong to Jesus Christ, death is no longer death but sleep. As the Lord said of Lazarus, our friend has fallen asleep, and so He gives rest to His own until the resurrection. This better place is not earned by wishing alone, but is given through Jesus Christ alone, who has won the victory over sin and death. Sin was the sting of death and its power, but Christ has destroyed that power, and death is swallowed up in His resurrection.
This hope must be chosen now, while we live. After death there is no second chance to believe with a rightly disposed heart, for what is forced by necessity then has no value. Today is the time to trust Him, to love Him, and to remain in His love, from which neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come, nor any other created thing can separate those who are His.
Therefore keep your hope fixed on Christ, trusting Him alone for salvation, and live even now as a citizen of heaven. We become heavenly not by being born of earth, but by doing the things that belong to heaven, in faith, love, purity and holiness, looking not at what is seen but at what is unseen. May the Lord keep you in His grace, strengthen your faith, and in His mercy bring you at the last to be with Him, where there is fullness of joy in His presence forever.
For those who belong to Jesus Christ, death is no longer death but sleep. As the Lord said of Lazarus, our friend has fallen asleep, and so He gives rest to His own until the resurrection. This better place is not earned by wishing alone, but is given through Jesus Christ alone, who has won the victory over sin and death. Sin was the sting of death and its power, but Christ has destroyed that power, and death is swallowed up in His resurrection.
This hope must be chosen now, while we live. After death there is no second chance to believe with a rightly disposed heart, for what is forced by necessity then has no value. Today is the time to trust Him, to love Him, and to remain in His love, from which neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come, nor any other created thing can separate those who are His.
Therefore keep your hope fixed on Christ, trusting Him alone for salvation, and live even now as a citizen of heaven. We become heavenly not by being born of earth, but by doing the things that belong to heaven, in faith, love, purity and holiness, looking not at what is seen but at what is unseen. May the Lord keep you in His grace, strengthen your faith, and in His mercy bring you at the last to be with Him, where there is fullness of joy in His presence forever.
