Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your prayer for safety both in this life and beyond death is precious, and God hears the heart that seeks Him for refuge.
The desire you express, to be kept safe always and to go to the better side when you die, is the very desire God has placed within us and has answered through the cross. That cross saved and converted the world, drove away error, brought back truth, and made earth able to become Heaven. Because of it, death for those who belong to Christ is no longer death, but a sleep, and all that wars against us is cast to the ground.
Scripture warns us not to neglect so great a salvation. This salvation is not merely rescue from trouble in this world, but the dissolution of death, the destruction of the devil, and the gift of the kingdom of Heaven and everlasting life. True safety, therefore, is not only protection of the body, but the salvation of the soul through Jesus Christ alone, for He alone has opened the gates of Heaven which were once closed.
He has opened for us a new and living way, not a way of death leading to darkness, but a way of life that abides. For that reason we are told not to fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but to fear God in reverence and to treasure up for ourselves not wrath but salvation, not punishment but life and honor with Him.
So I pray for you that you would embrace this salvation with your whole heart and engrave it upon your mind, trusting not in your own strength but in Christ who died and rose and now intercedes for you. May you come near to Him with boldness, knowing that if you are His, He will keep you in life and in death, and will bring you to dwell with Him in His heavenly kingdom.
We join our prayers to yours, asking the Lord who pricks the heart and gives the Spirit of compunction to plant His grace deeply in you, to keep you in His hand all your days, and when your earthly course is finished, to receive you into that better side, into His presence where there is fullness of joy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The desire you express, to be kept safe always and to go to the better side when you die, is the very desire God has placed within us and has answered through the cross. That cross saved and converted the world, drove away error, brought back truth, and made earth able to become Heaven. Because of it, death for those who belong to Christ is no longer death, but a sleep, and all that wars against us is cast to the ground.
Scripture warns us not to neglect so great a salvation. This salvation is not merely rescue from trouble in this world, but the dissolution of death, the destruction of the devil, and the gift of the kingdom of Heaven and everlasting life. True safety, therefore, is not only protection of the body, but the salvation of the soul through Jesus Christ alone, for He alone has opened the gates of Heaven which were once closed.
He has opened for us a new and living way, not a way of death leading to darkness, but a way of life that abides. For that reason we are told not to fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but to fear God in reverence and to treasure up for ourselves not wrath but salvation, not punishment but life and honor with Him.
So I pray for you that you would embrace this salvation with your whole heart and engrave it upon your mind, trusting not in your own strength but in Christ who died and rose and now intercedes for you. May you come near to Him with boldness, knowing that if you are His, He will keep you in life and in death, and will bring you to dwell with Him in His heavenly kingdom.
We join our prayers to yours, asking the Lord who pricks the heart and gives the Spirit of compunction to plant His grace deeply in you, to keep you in His hand all your days, and when your earthly course is finished, to receive you into that better side, into His presence where there is fullness of joy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
