1 Corinthians 15:50-58
In just a few hours, I will bury one of our old saints--Velma Cole. Ms. Cole was 96 when she passed away on the Fourth of July. The one thing I can say about Velma is that she was confident about her future.
You know, fear and worry are human nature. We can see examples of fear and worry in the lives of so many. The way people react to fear and worry can be very dangerous. Fear and worry ruins relationships--whether it be marriages, business deals, or politics. "Wars and rumors of wars" are all on account of fear and worry. Fear and worry ruins lives--you just can't live in fear and worry. It will kill you!
Velma, in my observation, didn't live out of fear and worry but rather out of confidence. When her husband died, she faced boldly that loss because of her confident future. Even when just a couple of years ago she left her home to live in an assisted living village, Velma didn't react in fear and worry.
Velma was confident about her future. Her future was in Christ. She lived for him, knowing such a life was not in vain but secure...steadfast and immovable. She lived in confidence, not because of some fantastic hope about heaven, but because she had come to grips with her death. She knew she would die someday, but just as well knew that the sting of death was gone. She lived in confidence because of a dependable Savior who bore the sting of death and exchanged Velma's sting for victory. Having come to grips with the reality of death, and knowing that death held for her victory in Jesus, she was then able to live a life steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord her labor was not in vain.
At this very moment, her soul is with the Lord while her body awaits a burial. One day very soon, however, that old body will be remade imperishable and will serve her for eternity in the presence of the Lord. Having known that for years and years, Velma left fear and worry and lived in confidence of her victory in Jesus.
If we were to learn a lesson from Ms. Velma, it would be this: to live confidently in the Lord, exemplified by a life which abounds in the work of the Lord, knowing that there is no need for fear or worry but that the victory is already ours. Let's live victorious lives--lives exemplary of our faith in Jesus' victory!
