“And Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said,
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit:
and having said this, he gave up the ghost.”
Luke 23:46
Dear Friends –
Starting with the disciple Stephen, who was brutally stoned to death, many of the Christian martyrs who followed in Christ’s footsteps experienced horrific and excruciating deaths. Some of these saints also endured much longer cruelty… for days, months, even years, they underwent barbaric torture and imprisonment… and additionally in common with Jesus, a lot of these saints cried out to God The Father: “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” 
Here in the 21st century, such insane physical cruelty still occurs in astonishing numbers, but even more so, spiritual death occurs all the time, causing such pain that those souls also cry out those words to The Father from a death that took not their natural life, but their spiritual being. It is hard to move a physical body around after someone’s meanness, stupidity or pure evil annihilates your purpose for existence. In moments, a tragic vehicle accident takes the life of your loved one… the boss tells you that your job has been eliminated… a spouse says they don’t love you anymore and wants a divorce… the bank posts a foreclosure notice on the front door… a malicious enemy triumphs in court and you’re bankrupt… and on and on a myriad of reasons exist that suck out the very life-blood of existence, leaving only a spiritless victim who cries out to The Father at death’s occurrence.
Whether it is a physical cross that takes natural life or a spiritual cross that removes supernatural life… death occurs… and all the stages of grief and sorrow take over. However, while there is no earthly way that you can soon put the joy back into your spiritless being, you pray to God for strength to keep your body moving in some sort of semblance of life… you have in effect, turned over your existence to the care of Almighty God… into His hands you have committed your future being. Just as Jesus spent three days in the grave before His resurrection, so will you too go through a period of 
dormancy before you rise to a new life. The shock and horror start to erode and changes occur through Divine Intervention that brings new purpose to your life, even if the hurt of victimization lingers; you can begin to change for the better because Almighty God is raising you from that death; whether it’s physical or spiritual death, God promised resurrection for all souls that die believing in Him. This is a most important theological dogma to understand from those words uttered by Christ… DEATH OF THE BODY IS NOT THE END! The spiritual being that we are lives on, and rises to return to our spiritual creator, Almighty God! Jesus Christ knew His death was imminent, and He would never have offered up His spirit to The Father if it had no chance of going there, but rather, He confirms by that utterance, that we are guaranteed that OUR SPIRIT LIVES ON!
How absolutely majestic Almighty God’s logic to offer His creation eternal life… believers who lead a righteous life are rewarded with eternal life in heaven, while nonbelievers who ignored His Being receive eternal damnation in hell.
Spiritual deaths can occur many times in one’s life, but physical death only once; however, the more times we recover from spiritual death and encounter the surety of Almighty God intervening in our lives, the more we know we are becoming heirs to heaven from the personal relationship we have established with Him. A life in this world can hardly avoid a spiritual cross now and then, but with Almighty God at our side, we rise each time to new beginnings conquering death… the Giver of life rescues, restores, and reclaims the work of His Hands.
SEVERING RELATIONSHIPS
We all have relationships, even family members, we could do without. For one reason or another, what was congenial has grown apart… common interests change, different family values occur, intellectual or economic status affects behavior… enjoyment of each other’s company no longer exists making for stilted and uncomfortable get-togethers. What to do? Normally we drift apart slowly with neither party fighting the curtailment, a congenial separation. However, when a stark change in values occur that might influence our children, we have to give a specific explanation to our children and the others concerned, especially where sin is involved. The continual exposure to wrong behavior surreptitiously conditions your children to tolerance… that means overtly accepting and condoning that behavior by participating with it socially. It is difficult to remove your family from all the rampant sin that pervades our society, but parents must instruct their children to the wrongness of those anti-religious values that dominate pop culture, which is exactly where children wish to be, making it a tough task to supervise and educate.
Politics and religion were considered topics of discussion to never enter into if you wanted to maintain friendships, for differences in opinion become so strong by the rigidity of the defined principles in these topics. Consequently, we try to avoid the unpleasantry this brings to family holiday gatherings if we want tranquility to prevail, for the political polarization that currently dominates makes it extremely hard to refrain from opposing opinions being expressed. Religion however, must be discussed with nonbelievers if a good Christian wants to fulfill their obligation to pass on The Good News. Let the gentle Jesus persona inhabit your being as you introduce a learner to His truths, but for the rebellious anti-God factions, be ready to let the angry, whip yielding Jesus take over your being to annihilate and silence the detractors to His honor and glory. Fighting evil is certainly the more difficult task to accomplish than teaching an open mind… but pray persistently in both capacities until success is achieved.
When you have helped a convert forward on the path of faith, a friendship to cherish has been established. However, when you realize an evil force has taken over the mind of another and continuation of argument would be futile, remember Christ’s instruction to His Apostles when He sent them out to preach: “Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” (Mark 6:11) Don’t just sneak away from all the vile people of the world, let them know exactly that you are severing the relationship because of their immorality, and that’s why you can have no further dealings with them! Any hostile situation in the family, the workplace, etc. that you may find yourself in, pray about it for guidance and let God counsel and direct your actions… on your own, you may leave one irate situation only to find yourself in another just as bad or worse. If God wants you to leave, doors will open for you and an easy exit will appear… if He doesn’t want you to leave, for whatever unknown reason, He will thwart your every attempt and you won't be able to budge, so always leave it up to Him. Don’t just entrust Him with your spiritual well being but your whole being… body and soul, physical and spiritual… commend your entire life into His Hands for the most complete life possible. Sever relationships with all the uglies of the world, but never with Almighty God… He’s your best relationship possible!
