Life's Inevitable End

Life's Inevitable End

When a virus emerges for which we have no natural or medical defenses, we are forced to confront our frailty. When any person we meet could infect us with a deadly disease, we cannot evade the fact of our mortality. When vaccines lower our risk of catching or dying of said disease, we breathe more easily and long to return to normal. Then, when a variant emerges with even the possibility of evading these defenses and forcing us to start over, our hopes are dashed and the reality of death looms once more.

I daresay our grandparents would not have been so reactive. Theirs was an existence filled with diseases and dangers our scientists have largely vanquished. I have not spent a day of my life worrying about contracting smallpox, polio, or tuberculosis.

But such "progress" has come at a cost.

"You have ample goods laid up for many years"

C. S. Lewis, in The Abolition of Man (perhaps his most prophetic book), observed: "For the wise men of old, the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike, the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men."

We now believe, at least subconsciously, that because we can defeat some diseases, we should be able to defeat them all. Because you and I will not die of the Black Plague or Spanish flu, we need not die.

Rather than conforming to reality, we seek to subdue it.

This is a subtle lie of the enemy. He has deluded many into believing there is no afterlife at all. For those who do believe there is life after death, many do not believe hell is real. But for those who do believe that "it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27), his strategy is to render death less threatening by using medical advances to mask its ever-present reality.

Then, when death does come, we are unprepared for what comes next.

Rather than using these few short years to invest in eternity, we waste them in "reckless living" (Luke 15:13). We say to our souls, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, and be merry" (Luke 12:19).

The omicron variant, however dangerous it ultimately turns out to be, gives the lie to such deceits. It reminds us once again that we are creatures intended to serve our Creator, finite and fallen people in desperate need of the "God of hope" who alone can "fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope" (Romans 15:13).

"There is only one relationship that matters"

So, let's reframe our mortality by using it to empower us for eternal purposes. Let's seize every day as God's gift to be employed for his glory and the good of others. Let's love our Lord and our neighbor with passion and service (Mark 12:30–31).

If we do, we'll experience the transforming presence of Christ and the abundant life he alone can give (John 10:10). We'll exhibit the fruit of his Spirit in ways that give our lives purpose and our witness power (Galatians 5:22–23).

In short, let's live each day as if it is our last, knowing that one day we'll be right.

Perhaps today.

To this end, I'll close with my favorite reading in Oswald Chambers' classic, My Utmost for His Highest:

"There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that all costs, and God will fulfill his purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God's purposes, and yours may be that life."