Time: Take Time For The Moment

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?

1 Corinthians 15:55

Everyone dies. Some die sooner, some later. Some of us will die gradually, some abruptly. Some die old, some die young, but death comes to us all at an appointed time. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2).

Though death comes at a time known to God, it always comes as a shock to us. Death pierces the survivors’ hearts with inexpressible grief, anguish so unbearable that organs ache. I felt this inarticulate, twisted pain when my younger brother died tragically. Every early death is tragic.

Death brings victory, but no sting, for the believer. “Death has been swallowed up in victory.…He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:54, 57). But the sting of death can gnaw on the survivors, the loved ones left behind. What can we do now that will ease the sting of our death later?

In the past year, two men in our Friday morning Bible study have lost children. One died from a gunshot wound, the other in a motorcycle accident. One of them was David Baker. I would like to tell you about him.

A quiet teen-ager, David loved reading books and watching “Dr. Who.” Countless volumes of science fiction passed before his eyes. Birds of prey especially intrigued David, and he earned a college scholarship for his volunteer work repairing the broken wings of eagles. He loved Christ.

Here are some excerpts from a letter I received from his dad:

One evening when I came home I was greeted by a tall, slender, blonde teen-aged girl whom I had never met. David had struck up a conversation with her in the grocery store and invited her to stay in our home! Her name was Debbie. Her parents had beaten her and kicked her out of their home. She was battered, physically and emotionally. She lived with us for five weeks, recovered, and now lives with an aunt. She is now a Christian. He took time for the moment, and it made a difference.

I scolded David several times for not being home on time in the late afternoons. He said nothing in his defense for this repeated behavior. Only much later did I find out where he had been and what he was doing. One of his friends had an eye disease and was going blind. He was reading books to her. He took time for the moment.

One Friday afternoon about 3:45 P.M. I called my wife from work to tell her I loved her and see how her day was going. She told me that David had stopped by after work for a visit. He and I talked for a few minutes, arranging a shopping trip to buy his mother’s Christmas present. We agreed to meet at 6:00 P.M. I told him I loved him and heard the reply, “I love you, too, Dad. Good-bye.” David died in an accident fourteen minutes later.

How precious that brief moment on the telephone has become. How many fathers never hear those words? How many of us are too busy to take time for the moment. We are not really in a position to judge if we have time because we do not know what a difference that moment can make in someone’s life.

That moment has caused me to care more, look deeper, search harder, pray longer, and seek understanding.

David left the legacy of taking time for the moment. He de-fanged much of the sting of his death. He left a treasure trove of memorable moments that helped anesthetize the awful anguish of his family. David learned to take time for the moment and left a heritage for his family. The lesson of David’s life can be a heritage for us, too.

Do you take time for the moment? Are you investing yourself in things that last? Only the Word and people are permanent. Everything else will be consumed by fire. David would say, “Learn to take time for the moment.” If you do, the sting of death will be de-fanged for the ones you will leave behind.

It is the if onlys and could have beens that turn the dolor of death into a bitter sting. There is a sweetness to regret-free mourning, a spiritual fellowship with the Holy Spirit. The balm of God’s tender compassion salves the wounds that death inflicts—unless you don’t take time for the moment. The pain of death is the missed person; the sting of death is the missed moment.

Has death stung you? Death always hurts, but it doesn’t have to sting. “Where, O death, is your sting?” Take time for the moment.

I SURRENDER

Father, thank You that death has been swallowed up in victory by the sacrifice of the Lamb. How I thank You for my eternal salvation, that death has no victory over me. You have removed the sting of death for me. Lord, I want to remove the sting of my death for the dear ones I will leave behind someday, a day unknown. I surrender my moments to You. Show me how to take time for the moments. Lord, remove from my heart the bitter sting of the missed moments I have already known. Amen.