One small fact: you are going to die. Despite every effort, no one lives forever. Sorry to be such a spoiler. My advice is when the time comes, don't panic. It doesn't seem to help.
The Book Thief is a book and a movie telling the chilling story of one ordinary girl in Nazi Germany and the stories that intersect with her own. But what makes the story so chilling is the voice of its narrator. The story is narrated by Death. Capital "d," no euphemism, a very real character telling a very real story. And so the hero of The Book Thief, the ordinary girl named Leisel, has a story that is told and marked by Death. Consequently, the stories that intersect her own are also narrated by Death.
I have seen a great many things. I have attended all the world's worst disasters, and worked for the greatest of villains. And I've seen the greatest wonders. But it's still like I said it was: no one lives forever.
Death is portrayed in The Book Thief as the one constant, as the guiding point of life, and as the meaning behind our existence. We live to die.
If this were true, how dark and dead and hopeless life would be. Could we even call this living if we were created to die? If God was dead and Death was the victor, hope would be gone. And without hope, life is meaningless.
The true reality is that death is a curse. We weren't created to die, but because of the Fall we all will. But death is also a doorway, as Randy Alcorn says, not a wall or a hole, a doorway. Death is a hiccup in a journey, a bump in the road. Death is not the end, but only the beginning of endless life. For the Christian, death brings joy unspeakable. And the appointment of our death is not determined by death itself, like a cold, empty character, waiting to snatch our souls. It's gently and graciously ordained by the God who loves His children.
Despite my concerns with it, I found myself flipping back to N.D. Wilson's Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl after the final credits rolled in The Book Thief. N.D. Wilson talks about death in ways that no one else can. He said:
When we die, wherever or whenever that might be, there will be other characters in the story with us, evil characters, good characters, and confused ants. But God is also there, shaping the story, off the stage and on the stage, closing a chapter as a turtle bounces, smiling while it does.
To His eyes, you never leave the stage. You do not cease to exist. It is a chapter ending, an act, not the play itself. Look to Him. Walk toward Him. The cocoon is a death, but not a final death. The coffin can be a tragedy, but not for long.
There will be butterflies.
I will die, and when I do - whether it be in my bed as age creeps over me, or struck by lightning, a meteor, or a UPS truck - when my body and soul find their divorce, His hand will be the one that cuts the thread and shows me the path He blazed through tragedy. His finger will point to the parade.
Cling to hope. Death may be coming, but it is not a character to fear. It is a curse that was overcome and defeated by one death on a cross. For the Christian, death is a doorway. And God will open the door.
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