New Beginnings - Pt. 9

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized pinto Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:1-5 ESV).

 

Having lived in three states and been active in ministry in all three I have been able to see some of the differences in traditions kept at the funeral of a loved one. Even in Texas, there have been different protocols followed as required by the church or cemetery where the deceased was being buried. One cemetery required that the grave be opened (dug) and closed (filled in) by hand. However, the most difficult of these traditions was in Tennessee. The tradition there was that the family stay at the graveside while the grave was closed. Most of the time it was done mechanically, and the time spent watching the grave be filled was relatively brief.

 

No matter the protocols or traditions, when we are standing at the grave of a loved one, we feel the weight of death. Conversations fall silent. Hopes and dreams meet up against the hard reality of mortality. Death separates. Anyone who has lost a close friend or family member has felt the weight of this separation. Death leaves an aching hole, an empty space wherever that loved one used to be. But through the gospel, even something as terrible as death can speak a word of hope. The death of Jesus separates us from the power of sin in our lives.

 

And the death of a believer separates that person from the struggle with sin and brokenness in this life. Nor does death have the final word. In God’s redemptive plan, resurrection follows death. Believers will live with Christ. What’s more, all who believe in Jesus do not need to wait for physical death to begin living the new life in Christ. The power of sin is broken in our lives, and like Jesus, we begin to live for God. By God’s grace, the weight of sin and death give way to the new life in Christ, giving hope even over the grave. This is the ultimate New Beginning!