Introduction: Did you know your life will preach your funeral? Actually, your life is your testimony. What kind of legacy will you leave behind?

1. Whether Living or Dying, We Are the Lord’s! (Rom. 14:8) – “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”

2. When a Christian Dies, It Is Valuable in the Sight of God! (Psalm 116:15) – “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”

Imagine that! When a Christian dies, God says it is precious in His sight. The word “precious” is יָקָר (yaqar), which has to do with something valuable, rare, or even esteemed. Immediately, you recognize that humanity looks at death differently than Divinity. Keep in mind, since our God is a God of no beginning and no ending, He is waiting for His creation to enjoy their eternal destination.

3. While Our Bodies Are Going Down, Our Spirits Are Going Up! (2 Cor. 5:1-8) – “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.”

In this passage of Scripture, the apostle Paul likens our earthly body to a tabernacle or temporary tent. Then, he is inspired to describe why the believer will live forever with Jesus Christ: “Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord… we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

Did you recognize the down payment of the Christian life—namely, the “earnest of the Spirit”? What does that mean? It reveals that God made preparations before He created man for him to live forever. In so doing, He deposits into every believer an upfront payment by giving him or her the Holy Spirit. Since God the Holy Spirit lives forever and because He indwells the Christian, the Christian will live forever. Oh, that explains why Paul wrote those comforting and deeply cherished words: “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.”

Conclusion: Now that we’ve briefly considered the biblical insight for living and dying, what more could be said other than: “Keep living a life worth dying, only to live again with Jesus!”