This past week

I officiated at the funeral of Doris Ann Gibbs Horne, a dear, beloved

first cousin by marriage. Doris was a valiant soldier as she faced a stroke

and leukemia, both in her 74th year of life. My colleagues in ministry

consider it an honor to officiate at funerals for saints like Doris. This

is what I said. I hope it may encourage you.

"Precious

in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Godly ones," is a rather

confident statement of the Psalmist in the 116th. Doris Ann Gibbs Horne

was a Godly woman, so we can with confidence say, "Precious in the

sight of the Lord was the death of Doris Horne."

This is the

Word of the Lord. And we call upon the Word of God today because Doris

believed in Jesus of Nazareth as the only begotten of the Father, the

Christ, the Son of the Living God; she believed in the Bible as God's

wonderful words of life; she believed in the church with all of its ragged

edges but with her glorious future. Pastors don't always have the privilege

of saying those words.

So, why, why

is it a precious thing to God when his Godly ones breathe their last earthly

breath? Because God knows in that twinkling of an eye that separates life

and death, his precious one will know that it was all worth it. Well done,

good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord. Death permits

God to say, "I told you so." He might say something like, "When

you took Jesus as your Savior, I promised I would never leave you nor

forsake you. I promised that neither life nor death could separate you

from me and my love. Now you know it was not a fantasy, not a fable, not

a human construct, but now you know, I was right on the money."

The old hymn

says, "every work for Jesus will be blessed." Doris worked for

Jesus. From the piano, in the choir, as a Bible teacher, serving alongside

her Deacon husband, Doris worked for Jesus. And her service unto the Lord

was not casual as so many make their service today. If she said she would

do something, she would do it. Her word was her bond. How precious in

the sight of pastors are members like my dear cousin.

Let me tell

you something, for all her labor in the Lord, Doris is receiving her reward,

not just for ten thousand years, but ten million years bright shining

as the sun. And after that, she will have no less days to sing God's praise

than when she began to sing in the heavenly choir on August 11, 2001.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Godly ones. It was

all worth it, dear Doris!

It is also

precious in his sight because he can take his child, bring that child

unto himself, and take care of their every need. For the Christian, death

signifies the defeat of sickness. No longer can sickness demand its limitations.

We have all heard the limitations, "She sick and is not able to come.

She's sick and can eat very much. She's sick and does not understand very

well any more."

The limitations

of sickness are obliterated on the other side of death. When John saw

the new heaven and the new earth, he saw that God wipes away all the tears,

no longer any death, no longer any mourning, no longer any crying, and

no longer any pain. Arthritis, bursitis, nearsightis (sic), watching one's

weight, going to the see the doctor, taking treatments are all things

of the past. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Godly

ones because he is able to take them away from their misery.

The death of

Doris was precious to our Lord because He was able to usher her into the

cloud of witnesses those who have gone on before: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,

Peter, Paul, and Timothy. And then there will be the family members there:

brothers, sisters, mamas and daddies. What a precious reunion. Funerals

often become family reunions for our family members who are cast to the

four winds. But can you just imagine on the other side just what kind

of reunion theirs will be?

You see, these

are the things we believe. These are the things we die for. And these

are the things that comfort us.

Now, what's

the word for us today? For us, the living. It's found in 1 Corinthians

15:58 "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

Postscript:

Should not all of us want to live our lives in such a way that our deaths,

too, will be precious in the sight of the Lord?

The Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor

of River's Edge

Community Church in Fayetteville.

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