The Coffin

"Death has been swallowed up in victory." (1 Cor. 15:54)

Trapped. You know the feeling. It’s a suffocating place. Though the sun may be shining outside, you feel the dark all around you – it’s not visible, but it’s very real. It’s as if the walls around you are caving in, whether you’re inside or out in an open field. You can’t escape the feeling…you tell yourself that it IS just a feeling, right? There’s no reason for the emotional panic that is threatening to clench your throat. You’re ok. You’ll be fine. The sun is bright, the wind is fresh, the day is young…but still…you just can’t seem to shake it…that feeling…trapped.

What I’ve described is a desperate place, a dire place, a horrid place that none of us ever wish to come to – but we do. It happens in the times when everything in your life is out of control, caving in around you, going wrong, and there’s NOTHING you can do about it. Your job is a dead end; your kids insist on their rebellion; your wife refuses to meet you halfway; your illness grows steadily worse despite everything you do. There’s no escaping the seemingly inevitable. You are trapped in a sinking pool of hardship and there’s no way out.

You’re right. There is no way out – it’s through. Trials come, and they linger, and our society tries to engrave in our brains that you can escape their discomfort. But in all honesty, you can’t escape them. In fact, you may not really want to, if you knew the consequences of going through…through gets you to the other side, stronger, wiser. It’s through the fire that gold is made brighter; it’s through the cocoon that the butterfly's wings are enabled to carry it’s weight in flight. Did you know that a chick will die if it is not forced to peck its way through the shell that encases it at hatching time? Did you know that silver would have little to no value if it was not heated to an intolerable temperature that carries its impurities out of its matter?

What scares us about the "through" part of hardship is what causes the trapped feeling: it’s the coffin. Yes, the coffins in life are the places where you utterly die to your old life and become something new. The caterpillar dies in the coffin of the cocoon and is liquefied during the metamorphic process. The hard stone and metal die from their previous form in the fire, completely dissolved in its heat. The egg yolk and shell die as the tiny little bird completely engulfs them as it grows within.

Before new life, before resurrection, death must happen. Jesus knew this. Oh the trapped feeling He must have felt, crying out in utter despair to His Father the night before His crucifixion, “Father if You are willing!...”(ref. Lk. 22:42) His face dampened by His sweat; His forehead stained with His blood bursting through His pores. He was trapped. There was no way out; there was just...through.

But without that through, you and I would not have hope. Without His through, you and I would not have peace. Without His through, you and I would be lost to our coffins; there would be no other side to them; there would be no life after death, literal or metaphorical; no joy after sorrow, or reward after loss. Christ went through His “through,” and as a result, He reigns over all things, and He has seated us with Him over all things (ref. Eph. 1:20; 2:6). As a result, we can look at our coffins as places of opportunity, as the place of strength and fulfillment of our ultimate purposes; the place where you and I become all we were created and meant to be, rather than the pit of hellacious despair and utter horror. We can go through our coffins because Christ went through His.

Whatever trapped place you may find yourself in right now, whatever coffin stands in your way at this moment; don’t try to get out of it. Because of Jesus, you can go through it, and trust me, there is life on the other side. The egg gives way to the chick; the rock and ore give way to the gold, the cocoon gives way to the butterfly; your coffin gives way to the you God intended for you to be. Press on, and press through.

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (1 Cor. 15:58)