Is This All There Is?

Philosopher Walter Kaufmann wrote a book ironically titled The Faith of a Heretic. After explaining our cosmic insignificance, he concluded: “What I want to do and would advise others to do is to make the most of life: put into it all you have got, and live, and, if possible, die with some measure of nobility.”

Uugh. To tell us to die with nobility when there is no hope beyond this short life is farcical at best. Compare Kaufmann’s philosophy to Jesus’ words: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live.” These profound words, spoken to Lazarus’ sister Martha, were proven true moments later when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

While rarely talked about, the reality of death is truly the ultimate fear of all people. It’s just that we’ve become accustomed to not think about it. When someone dies and we attend a funeral, that’s when the reality of death is again brought to the forefront of our minds.

If you attempt to talk with a dying man about sports or business, he is no longer interested. He now sees other things as more important. People who are dying recognize what we often forget, that we are standing on the brink of another world. – William Law

I think that most of us would have trouble finding value in this present life if we believed that this is all there really is. Yet for most of the world, they live just that way. They struggle with making the most of their lives, while having no hope beyond death. It was for this reason that Dr. Nelson Bell said:

Only those who are prepared to die are really prepared to live.

We are entering the countdown to our most important Christian holiday, the commemoration of Jesus’ Good Friday death and his Sunday morning resurrection. It’s these holidays that give us the vitality to go behind coping, to live meaningful and rewarding lives in the here and now; lives that end only with a passageway into a better life.

Concluding his famous discourse on Christ’s resurrection, the apostle Paul asks rhetorically, “Where, O death, is your sting? Where is your victory?” He was referencing Jesus’ resurrection and ours because of it, and the answer is obvious. Death has been overcome, in Paul’s words, “swallowed up in life.”

Our upcoming Easter will be more than a Christian holiday…it will be a celebration of the hope of eternal life that is passed on to all who believe!