Set Free

A former parishioner I deeply loved went home to be with the Lord this week. His last few years were difficult. His wife had to be taken from their home due to her health and relocated to a town one hour away. Not long afterward he fell one night in the kitchen. He spent the next years of his life in a care facility. His wife died and he could not attend her funeral. Slowly his body began to waste away and over time so did his mind. When I heard he had died my first thoughts were that he was finally set free from the prison of his body.

He loved Jesus. He followed Him in his days and now is able to see what he had only been able to see by faith for decades. He is free.

Yesterday Brenda and I made the sad trip to visit a beloved friend in the hospital. He is battling cancer and things are not looking good. The doctors say he does not have long. They do not have the last word. God has the last say.

It will take a miracle to restore him but God is in that business. As I watched my friend suffering I thought that whether God heals him or takes him home to heaven he will also be set free. I tossed and turned thinking about him, his wife, and children last night. We served the Lord together and this hit close to home. His kids are my kids' age. He is just a little older than me. He is far too young to battle this horrific disease.

This past year Brenda lost a high school friend to cancer. She battled for nearly a decade but in the end the cancer won. Truthfully all the cancer really did in the end is to set her free to be with Jesus.

I confess that I long to be set free too. Not in a twisted suicidal way. I've lived long enough down here to know the trials will never end. The pains are deep and the sorrows sting. I know that the body wastes away no matter how much time you put in on the treadmill or doing strength training. I face the sad reality that I cannot lift what I could in college. The boys have asked about those days and I wish down deep they could have seen me in my prime but it is not to be. As I get older the outer man is decaying but God is renewing the inner man.

Relationships down here do not last forever. Spouses die. Children are snatched away too soon. Friends graduate to eternity in Jesus before we do often. Some are left to linger behind alone. It is possible to outlive your family, your closest friends, and those who knew you at church. One day you can wake up and come to the sad realization nobody really knows you anymore. Your pastor might have either moved on or died. The new pastor only sees you as a name on the membership roll. Young families active in the church ministry do not know of your former service. They do not know of your labors of love and ceaseless intercessions. They do not see the real you. They only see the grey hair and the wrinkles. They do not know of your deep devotion and love for the Lord. It seems you are forgotten and nobody seems to care anymore. You are imprisoned in your body and mind.

The physical limitations could one day keep us from doing the things we often take for granted. Going grocery shopping. Attending worship services and Bible studies. Reading a the Bible and other good books along listening to inspirational music.

Ultimately this world holds nothing for us. That is why I find myself more and more longing for the true freedom that can only come with Jesus in eternity. Freedom from temptation and sin. Freedom from grief and heart-wrenching sorrow. Freedom from physical pain and chronic disease. Freedom forever.

Until that day Jesus does offer abundant life. Yet even then we are not totally set free. We will not be set free until this mortal puts on immortality and this perishable body is clothed with the imperishable. Then and only then will we truly be set free like my friend Earl was this past week. Life is an endurance race until then but one day all who have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior will be set free. I don't know what the journey will be like until that day but I can't wait.