As we reflect on the life and celebrate her home going today, I am reminded of the declaration of the Apostle Paul: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” - Philippians 1:21
Consider with me two valuable lessons from her life:
1. When a one receives life in Christ, they get all God has to give.
We related earlier about her settling the issue of her relationship with God and her eternal destination on the Tuesday before she died. I know that brought tremendous comfort to her family. It also brought about a wonderful and glorious welcome for her in heaven.
You see, even if a person comes to Christ at the end of their life, it doesn’t mean that they are saved “by the skin of their teeth” or that they are some “second class citizen in heaven,” because they hadn’t settled this matter earlier in life. The fact is that when a one receives life in Christ, regardless of when that is, they get all God has to give.
In Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus told a parable about a man who hired people to work in his vineyard, some in the morning, some at noon, and still others later in the day. At the end of the day, they each received the exact same wage. The lesson of this parable is that no matter when in your life you decide to come to Christ, you are entitled to all the rights and benefits pertaining salvation the moment you do.
The quality of one’s life is determined not by length, but by depth; and because she settled her relationship with God, she received life that was full and eternal. To live is Christ! Therefore, she lived with a greater sense of well being and contentment in her final days than she had known in all her previous years.
All this is because of the wonderful grace of our God. Grace is sometimes defined as God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense - all that God is free to do for us because of all Christ accomplished for us on the cross. Because Christ fully paid the price for her salvation, she received all of the riches associated with being a child of God the moment she believed on Christ.
Perhaps one of the greatest tributes to God’s saving grace is the hymn “Just As I Am,” which, interestingly, was written by another young woman, Charlotte Elliott, after 13 years of suffering as an invalid, at age 32, after settling the issue of her salvation.
Just as I am, thou wilt receive,
wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
because thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Yes, when a one receives life in Christ, they get all God has to give.
2. When one faces death, in Christ, they have only begun to live.
It is common for us to lament the death of one who passes from being among us at such an early age as Lindsey. But, because of Christ, her life is not to be found primarily here and now, but then and there, in the presence of her Savior, as we consider eternity. As Paul said, for the child of God, “to die is gain.”
The promise of Scripture is that when a child of God passes from this world below, they are welcomed into the world above. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” Once they leave our presence, they enter God’s presence.
Just think . . . Of stepping on shore and finding it heaven, Of taking hold of a hand and finding it God’s hand, Of breathing in new air and finding it heavenly air, Of feeling invigorated and
finding it immortality, Of waking up and finding that you’re home!
She has passed into that place where, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” - Revelation 21:4.
If you Could See Me Now
Our prayers have all been answered, I finally arrived, The healing that had been delayed, Has now been realized, No one’s in a hurry, There’s no schedule to keep, We’re all enjoying Jesus, Just sitting at His feet, My light and temporary trials, Have worked out for my good To know it brought Him glory, When I misunderstood, Though we’ve had our sorrows, They can never compare, To what Jesus has in store for us, No language can share. If you could see me now, I’m walking streets of gold, If you could see me now, I’m standing tall and whole, If you could see me now, You’d know I've seen His face, If you could see me now, You’d know the pain is erased, You wouldn’t want me, To ever leave this place, If you could see me now.
This is her reality now. But I want you to know that great adventures await her, along with the rest of the saints in heaven.
Now, along with the rest of the saints in heaven, she awaits the day when Christ will return to earth and make all things new. Now, according to Scripture, she possesses a temporary spiritual body, but when Christ returns and the resurrection occurs, she, along with all of God’s children, will receive a glorified, resurrection body.
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.”
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NLT)
Those in heaven today have been transformed spiritually by means of the new birth; and now they are in the presence of our Lord, and have been transformed intellectually, emotionally, and volitionally, in that they think like Jesus, feel like Jesus and choose like Jesus. But on the day of His return, Christ will complete His work of transformation in those of us who have trusted in Him by transforming us physically.
“But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.” - Philippians 3:20-21 (NLT)
On the day Christ returns, God will raise us up to live forever as resurrected beings in a society of resurrected beings, on a resurrected earth, with our resurrected Lord. And what a life it promises to be! Life will become more rich and fulfilling and UNIMPAIRED in the world to come than its ever been.
“In heaven we will be permitted to finish many of those worthy tasks which we had dreamed to do while on earth but which neither time nor strength nor ability allowed us to achieve.” - Wilbur Smith in The Biblical Doctrine of Heaven
“Our God won’t just take away suffering; he’ll compensate by giving us greater delights than if there had been no suffering. He doesn’t merely wipe away tears; he replaces those tears with corresponding joys. Hence, ‘our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us’ (Romans 8:18).” - Randy Alcorn
Yes, when one faces death, in Christ, they have only begun to live. She has only begun to experience what will be for her, as well as for all God’s children, the adventure of an ETERNAL lifetime!
No wonder the Bible describes the place to which she has now gone as a place of eternal rejoicing!
But we should also make note that it is a place of eternal reunion.
She has been reunited with others who have trusted Christ and have gone on before her; and now waits for those of us who have yet to leave this world to make sure, as she did, that we know Christ, so that we might see her again.
You see, those of us who have made sure we know Christ as our Savior as she did, are not gathered here to tell her good-bye, but simply, “We’ll see you later,” for we can look forward to joining her in that great adventure that awaits all of God’s children in eternity!
