The Dead Are Blessed?

Daily Reading:  Revelation 14-15

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” (Revelation 14.13)

Devotional Thought: The dead are blessed?  Jesus said so.  We've heard this hundreds of times at funerals and in sermons, but let's work through it again, only this time in reverse...

• Their deeds will follow them.  When we die "in the Lord," we are blessed, for our deeds follow us.  Isn’t it wonderful to know that God keeps careful accounting of what we do for him?  None of it goes unnoticed!  The least cup of water offered in Jesus’ name will not be forgotten: the medication administered, the hunger satisfied, the sorrow soothed, the love poured out, the help offered…  God sees and remembers it all!

• They will rest from their labors.  We can think about “labors” as “struggles.”  There is coming a day when our struggles and troubles will be over.  I have a very dear friend who was diagnosed with ALS.  It has presented in the respiratory system.  He will never again breathe on his own.  Every breath will be a struggle.  That is in this life, however.  One day he will no longer struggle for breath.  He will breathe freely and deeply the atmosphere of heaven!

• Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.  Death is not the friend of man.  Life is meant to be lived.  You and I were created for life - everlasting life.  Jesus defeated death when he rose again from the dead.  He is the resurrection and the life.  In him, death cannot harm us.  Rather, physical death is the door through which we pass to gain entrance into our eternal dwelling.  Death is not a blessing.  Being in the Lord is the blessing.

May God’s love and life overwhelm you with goodness and hope today!

Prayer: Lord, I know not the day when my struggles will be over, when my work on earth will be done.  But I do know this.  In you I am blessed - whether in life or in death!  Thank you for that promise and hope.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 105:7-15

7 He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.

8 He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations,

9 the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac.

10 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant:

11 “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.”

12 When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it,

13 they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.

14 He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings:

15 “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.”