The Good Thing About Death - Psalm 116:15

"The death of His faithful ones is valuable in the Lord's sight" (Psalm 116:15, HCSB).

While Easter is the time we celebrate the Lord's resurrection, we are also reminded that just as Jesus died and was resurrected, the only way human beings enter into eternal life is through the death of the physical body.

The Apostle Paul said, "What you sow does not come to life unless it dies" (I Corinthians 15:36).

Now, maybe it sounds morbid to say that death is the way to eternal life, but the fact is, you have to die to live eternally. As human beings, we strive for eternal life and death and resurrection are the means through which we enter into eternal life.

The Apostle Paul puts this proposition into perspective for us: "For we know that if our temporary, earthly dwelling is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands. Indeed, we groan in this body, desiring to put on our dwelling from heaven, since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life. And the One who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment. So, we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight, and we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:1-8, HCSB).

We cannot be resurrected to eternal life without first dying in the body (unless you are living when Christ returns).

You may have experienced the untimely or unanticipated death of a loved one. But what appears to us to be a broken or diseased body is to God a fully-formed spiritual being that has been prepared for eternity!

When we become a citizen of God’s Kingdom, we effectively die to this world order to live in God's Kingdom for eternity. Jesus characterized it as crossing over from death to life (John 5:24).

Because Kingdom citizens have already passed from death to life in the spiritual realm, the inevitability of a transition from physical death to eternal life should not be an odious proposition but a blessed hope.

The death of those who have been faithful to God is of great value to Him because then they are in His presence. "The wicked one is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous one has a refuge in his death" (Proverbs 14:32).

So, once you fully process the fact that the death of the physical body is your entrance into eternal life, you may want to consider closely how you are living your present life and be sure that you are being all that God wants you to be for eternal life.

"For me, living is Christ and dying is gain." (Philippians 1:21, HCSB)