Delays and Leftovers

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (Acts 7:54-59 ESV). Mary and I have made two trips in the last two months that we flew instead of drove. We went to Washington DC and to Ft. Worth, TX for time to visit with our kids. Both times we chose flights that were direct. There have been other trips I have taken that necessitated layovers. Whenever I travel, I do my best to avoid layovers. I always try to get a direct flight wherever I am going. It just seems like such a hassle to wait in an airport for the next leg of a flight to your destination. I know there are times when it simply cannot be avoided; but, if it can, I do my best to do so. Thank God there are no layovers on the way to heaven. There is no place called purgatory found in the Bible. Nor can we find anything called "soul sleep," a state of suspended animation. Rather, the Bible promises that a believer will enter Christ's presence immediately following death. When death strikes the Christian down, he falls into heaven. Certainly this is the impact of the description of Stephen’s death. Watching the stoning of Stephen must have made a tremendous impact on Paul. Later he wrote, "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). John Bunyan said that death "will be but a passage out of a prison into a palace." That doesn't mean we should hasten our death, or refuse to recognize how important it is to take care of our health. But it does mean that we don't have to fear it, because death died when Christ rose. Because Jesus is alive, He is at the right hand of the Father. When your day comes to leave this world, the Lord will be waiting for you. I don't know whether He will be standing up for you or me as He did for Stephen. But He will be waiting. Death will come at the appointed time, not a moment before and not a moment after. Live this life as if you have just this day left; and, recognize that whenever your time comes, he will safely take you home. There won’t be any delays or layovers on that trip!