Power Verse…… “In the beginning (before all time) was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He (Jesus) was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him, and without Him (Jesus) was not even one thing made that has come into being. John 1: 1 - 3

 Do you have trouble hoping? Do you have trouble believing? Do you have trouble trusting? We all have to deal with the contradictions in our belief system, but come to think of it the ultimate contradiction is life and death.
Maybe you're sick. Perhaps you have a terminal illness. (My belief system prefers me to substitute the word transitional for terminal.) Or perhaps there is someone close to you who is near death. Then let me pose the question: What makes death so hard to handle?

Death is hard to handle because it is a contradiction. Death contradicts life.
Dying is an ending, but it is also a beginning, because every end is a new beginning. That’s the contradiction.

When you were born, it was the end of your life in the womb, and the beginning of a new life. When you stopped being a child, it was the beginning of becoming an adult. When you finished your education is was the end of school, college or university and the beginning of your working life. When you reached retirement that was the end of one stage of life and the beginning of something new and exciting.
When you keep that in mind, you realize that if you maintain a positive attitude to every ending experience, you can turn every ending into a beautiful beginning. When you get married that is the end of being single and the beginning of being a couple. And when, through death or divorce, the marriage is ended, that ushers in a new beginning.

People say this is the land of the living, but in reality, this is the land of the dying. As soon as you are born, the countdown begins. Ultimately, we all leave the land of the dying and go to the land of the living.

How do I handle the ultimate contradiction between life and death? I put my trust in one person, Jesus Christ, who combines this ultimate contradiction through His widely documented resurrection. Jesus is eternally in the land of the living – heaven.
Every single one of us can think of someone very precious to us who has left the land of the dying and is now in the land of the living. You and I haven’t taken that journey yet.

We have a living God in a dying world, who through His Son, has prepared for us to move into the land of the living.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

Now that’s a creative resolution to life’s ultimate contradiction.

Jesus focused on the ultimate fabulous contradiction when He said:

“I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die…..” John 11: 25, 26.

The final four words of that verse is the crunch…..”Do you believe this?”

That is the answer to the ultimate contradiction between life and death.

That kind of believe system never throws away tomorrow!