“O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” 1 Corinthians 15:55
Cheated Death Again!
I love to regale people with stories of some of my mission trip adventures, in particular the two months I spent in Taiwan and Japan. Taiwan especially is quite the place for traveling about. Whether you’re a pedestrian or a passenger, going anywhere is not for the faint of heart. It’s constant hustle and bustle. The lanes are merely a formality, and it’s not uncommon to see a family of five on a scooter: they can come equipped with a tiny, fold down seat behind the handle bars, so a little one will perch there in front of Dad, who’s driving the scooter. Behind him could be two other children, and seated on the far back will be Mom, sitting side saddle, with an infant cradled in her arms. The drivers of these scooters whip in and out of traffic, with nary a care. It’s really something to see!
Pedestrians have absolutely no right of way whatsoever. If you’re on a street with no sidewalks to speak of, you have to be on the lookout constantly, because commuters, whether in cars, on scooters, or the bus drivers expect YOU to move. Time and again I’d watch their method of approaching a red light: slow down slightly (and I do mean slightly), lay on the horn, and barrel through the intersection. Often I’d hear the squeal of brakes, and other times, miraculously, not.
One time, a bunch of us were packed like sardines into a tiny van, en route to dinner during rush hour. Honestly, it always feels like rush hour there, with the constant chaos and beeping horns. Anyway, our translator, who was also our driver, was driving along, chatting away, when suddenly she said, “Wait, where am I going?”, and without looking, whipped the van around in a U-turn! We heard LOTS of squealing brakes in that moment! After that, my teammates and I started a ritual of saying, “Cheated death again!” every time we’d exit a vehicle. It was a joke, but it was also truth!
Telling these tales got me to thinking about our Savior. Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we really have cheated death! This isn’t to say that we are exempt from feeling the pain of losing loved ones, or will not ourselves go through the process of exiting earth by dying. But as the Scripture says, for those who receive Him, death has no sting, and hell has no victory! As it goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Father, thank You for sending Your Son to take on our sins. Please reveal Yourself to our loved ones who do not yet know You, that they too will know that death has no sting. Thank You for this victory. Thank You for loving us so much. May we never cease to be grateful. In Jesus’ name, amen.