BEYOND DEATH

BEYOND DEATH

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” — Philippians 1:21

For years I have contemplated the life of Christ within us, a life that is not governed by the limitations of mortality.

Recently, during a violent thunderstorm, a bolt of lightning came within two metres of my face.

It happened so suddenly there was no time to think, react or even experience fear. There was an extraordinary flash of light, followed by a tremendous crack of thunder that shook everything around me. The power went out and remained off for twenty-four hours.

When I had taken a moment to comprehend what had just happened, fear still did not enter.

Instead, I was exhilarated.

As I reflected upon that moment, it seemed as though there had been an invisible boundary around my life. The lightning had come so close, yet it had not touched me.

What made the experience even more remarkable was its timing.

I had just finished writing about immortality, about mortality being swallowed up by life.

“That mortality might be swallowed up of life.” — 2 Corinthians 5:4

And there I was, moments later, witnessing an extraordinary display of power that could have ended my mortal life in an instant.

Yet death was not what occupied me.

There was no struggle to overcome fear, no effort to be courageous, no need to convince myself that I was safe.

Fear simply wasn't there.

I do not claim to understand everything that happened in those few seconds, nor why the lightning came so close without touching me.

But something remained with me long after the storm had passed.

It was as though death could not touch me.

Not because I had overcome death through anything of myself, but because my attention was no longer upon death or keeping my body alive.

The mortal looks towards death.

The immortal looks towards life.

And that life is Christ.

My focus was upon Christ, not death. And in that moment, it was as though death could not touch me.