On January 2nd, 2023, the NFL showcased an intriguing matchup between the Buffalo Bills vs the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football. Ten minutes into the game, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrows throws a pass to wide receiver Tee Higgins, Higgins catches the pass and is immediately met by Bills defensive safety Damar Hamlin for a routine tackle. Seconds after the tackle, Hamlin collapsed on the field. From there everyone’s jaw dropped.
Following the tackle, Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest. His heartbeat was restored on the field after paramedics administered CPR for several minutes. Hamlin was immediately transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Over the last 24 hours doctors shared that Hamlin began to show “substantial improvement.” Still in breathing tubes, Hamlin was able to communicate in writing, the first question he asked, as any competitive football player would, “Did we win?” To that, Dr. Pritts from UC Medical Center responded, “you won the game of life.”
Most of us have never played football, but we are all playing the game of life. And one thing we can all be certain of is that this game is timed. The author of Ecclesiastic tells us “There is a time for everything under heaven–a time to be born and a time to die, a time to weep and time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” As taboo as it is to talk about death, there are two things we can learn from it.
1) Death gives us perspective about life. One of our favorite sayings in our home is “be where your feet are.” It reminds us to appreciate the people and things that are in front of us. It's a reminder of how precious life is.
2) Death is inevitable, there is no running from it, and there is no hiding from it. No matter how famous, rich, poor, athletic, smart you are–death does not discriminate.
My four-year-old son, Josiah hates losing. I often have to remind him that everyone loses sometimes and that's okay. In the game of life, there comes a time where everyone loses, and that's okay. Death is something we will all have to come face to face with, and because of that fact, we are often left to ponder what happens after death.
There is a story in John 11, Jesus discovers his friend Lazurus has died. One would think, if your friend died you would rush over to see them, but not Jesus. Jesus takes his sweet time getting to Lazarus because He knew he had power over death. By the time Jesus arrives to the scene, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Too late–its curtain call, case closed, game over. But not for Jesus. He raises Lazarus from the dead and speaks these profound words “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
How can someone live even though they died? How can someone live and never die, doesn’t everyone lose?
Jesus’ words are confusing, chilling, but yet comforting.
He’s given us the playbook to victory. His words speak to our spiritual and eternal life. Although our physical bodies will one day decay, our spirit will live on forever if we trust and believe in Him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life—forever in the right relationship with God, is what we were created for. Jesus made that possible with his death and resurrection on the cross, proving his power over the stronghold of death. We no longer have to live in fear of death because the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead now lives in us for eternity.
God reassures us about the promise of heaven and eternal life, a place with no more death, no more mourning, no more sickness or pain. For those who put their faith in Jesus, this is where their hope and assurance lie after death. God’s goal for creation has always been to get us to this place. In this place we are made perfect “in love, joy, wisdom, beauty, and immorality [but] the change cannot happen in this life, for death is an important part of the treatment.” It's why the Apostle Paul says "to die is to gain" because for those who are in Christ Jesus, death is not a loss but a win in the game of life.
“For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him” (1 Thess. 5:9–10)
Mere Christianity, C.S Lewis
John 3:16
John 11:25
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
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