Easter Hope
March 19, 2008
Joe,
This Sunday in my sermon I will be mentioning my Aunt Carole, who died almost three years ago from cancer. Here’s part of her story that I will not be sharing this Sunday, but as I just re-read this (it is part of a letter I wrote to my dad last year addressing his hostile atheism), my gratitude to God compelled me to post it:
I’m sure you remember the last day we saw her. Michelle and I had come especially because we knew how ill she was and wanted to speak with her about her soul, and about faith in Christ. We all sat there together for a couple of hours, and as soon as you and Gail and the girls left, before I could say anything to her, she asked me, ‘Are you going to pray with me now?’ I said of course, and I asked her how her soul was. She said (without any prompting from me) that she was scared, and that she felt guilty because she knew she had never cared much for God or religion or anything. She seemed to have regret about that. I shared with her some of the truths I have shared with you in this letter about what Jesus came to do, and read her a story from Luke’s gospel (which I read at the funeral) about a criminal who asked Jesus for help in his last moments before death, and Jesus’ promise that because of his faith, he would be with Jesus in paradise that very day.
She seemed genuinely encouraged by that, and after I shared a little more with her about suffering we made plans to come back and see her the following week and talk more about it all. She told me that she wanted me to lead and speak at the funeral service, (a request which would be denied, though it was heard by other loved ones). Just a couple of hours later her condition worsened and they took her to the hospital. She died just 36 hours after we left.
If her faith was genuine in that moment (and I have reason to believe that it was), then I can emphatically say that cancer was the best thing that ever happened to Carole. Because, by her own admission, she was walking through life indifferent about God. Had she been on that plane that crashed the Towers, she would have been eternally separated from God in a hell that makes our worst days on earth seem like an amusement park. But that terrible cancer she had turned her heart heavenward and compelled her to seek refuge for her life of indifference toward her Maker, and to be reconciled with Him through faith in Christ. And if she is with Him now, then she would be the first to say that her cancer was a loving gift that was well worth all the pain for the glory that it has brought to her: “For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison…“
If that seems to you an unwise way of running the universe, (letting people get cancer so they could go to heaven, letting planes explode buildings so people could be encouraged to believe in Jesus), then all I could say is this: ‘What percentage of knowable facts about this world do you possess knowledge of?’ Out of all that can be known in the world, how much do you know? Would you even dare to say that you know .0001 of 1%? Well, the God of the Bible knows everything, past, present and future. And if His ways don’t line up with my ways (which they often don’t!), then that’s a problem with me, not Him. He made me, not the other way around. He does not need to give me an account of all that He does. He has been merciful to reveal anything of Himself, and to show me His kindness and power to redeem our sufferings and sins through the sufferings of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Exceedingly grateful for the mercies of Jesus,
Larry
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Lar,
Thank you for posting that. The only way I can respond to that post is in worship of our Wonderful, Merciful, Savior. I’m so thankful for His perfect plan and that He works all things according to the counsel of His will. Praise Him!
Amen brother. Amen….