How Do They Do It?

How do unbelievers face suffering and death without the comfort and strength and hope that God offers by his word, his presence and his people?

2 words: Humanistic Stoicism

Humanism says that man is the highest order of being. There is no God with whom we will have to recon after we die. When the end comes, that’s all there is. We get eaten by worms and turned into plant food, never to experience consciousness again.

Stoicism says this is all there is and this is as good as it gets. We should expect no better and therefore desire no better. Kill your desires for a perfect life and make the best of this one. Keep a stiff upper lip and trudge on with all the dignity, grit and contentment that you can muster so as not to make a spectacle of yourself.

Jesus says, Mt 5:4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

In other words, keep your desire for a perfect life intact and invest that desire in waiting for a perfect eternity. You will grieve its seeming tardiness until you receive it, but you will receive it and you will be comforted.

Those who kill their desires, kill their motivation for hope. They may gain strength from their philosophy, but it is only enough strength to keep them away from Christ for all eternity. They will see heaven from afar and have no choice but to mourn with no hope.

Lu 16:26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’

Blessed, happy are those who mourn now.

*saints note* One thing I find interesting in the time of mourning, is that the hope becomes even more real, even more tangible, than in times of harmony. In times of mourning, there is something to hope for, but in times of happiness, there is nothing motivating us to hope for heaven, because we have it “all worked out” here in this life. Therefore, to truly appreciate the magnitude of the perfection of heaven, even to a small extent, times of mourning and loss are vital to us in this life.