After being ordained as a minister of the Gospel on Father's Day of June 20 nineteen ninety three, I had my first official ministerial assignment of having to perform a funeral service for the stepson of a man that is very dear to me and to whom I will be eternally indebted for mentoring me into a Christ-like life as spiritual father in the Gospel. His stepson's death was related to drug abuse. I remember the young man very well. I knew he had his personal struggles and I also knew that he loved the Lord with passion.

As I was preparing for my sad duty, my mind was bombarded with all kinds of questions. I needed answers that only God could give me. I wanted to bring comfort the only way I knew it could be minister and that was with the truth. In my heart I knew that perhaps some unsaved relatives and that even some believers that would attend the funeral would face the ultimate question that was hovering in my soul, Would God receive the young man unto Himself, or would he be forever condemned for his inability to overcome the dictates of the flesh in spite of having given his heart to the Lord? I knew the answer to the question the very second it sprung in my mind, but the problem I had was how to put into words the insight that I had in my heart. It did not take very long for the Holy Spirit to begin to give me what to say.

In the book of Romans, chapter five, verses one through ten, the Bible reads:

Romans 5:1-10 (KJV)

1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ:
2. By whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4. And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5. And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
6. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

The Word of God tells us that we have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, that is, we have been pronounced righteous, we have been shown and regarded as just and innocent in the sight of God through His sacrifice. Also, by faith in Him we have been introduced into God's presence holding a position with the Father that we did not deserve and could have never attained apart from his Son. To hold such unmerited position would have been impossible outside the fact that God loves humanity.

The Bible declares in Romans 5:8: "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." The word commendeth means to place together, to set forth with or with someone, to introduce one person to another, to make known and conspicuous, to represent as worthy. Look at this very well, the scripture says that we were placed together with Christ in God's presence and were introduced to him as worthy to be before His Majesty while we were yet unworthy to be there. Through Jesus' actions, God has made his love toward us conspicuous, that is, very noticeable. The Amplified Bible brings more light into the understanding of this verse: "But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us."

Let us see what another witness in the scriptures has to say:

Ephesians 2:1-6

1. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2. Where in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

The word quickened means "to make alive, to reanimate, as to bring one from the dead." In chapter four of the book of Romans and verse seventeen, the Word of God says: "(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were." The Amplified Bible reads Romans 4:17: "As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the non-existing things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed."

What am I trying to tell you? It's very simple, that God our Father, by faith, saw us raised from the dead and worthy to be in His presence, seated at His right hand side, having the man Jesus-His only begotten Son- as our representative when we were still spiritually dead and indifferent at anything He had to offer to us. God performed all this by faith, a faith that is effective, active and operative only in the realm of God's very own nature: Love (Gal, 5:6; I John 4:8-10)

In Romans 5:10 the Bible proclaims, "For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life" The word reconciled means an exchange that has taken place, it signifies a change on the part of one party, induced by an action on the part of another. In the book of John 1:1 the apostle John inspired by the Holy Spirit wrote, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. " In my Spanish Bible this last verse takes on a different and interesting meaning, it reads as follows: "In the beginning was the Verb, and the Verb was with God, and the Verb was God." In the same book, the first part of verse 14 declares: "And the Verb was made flesh, and dwelt among us. " When Christ was manifested in the flesh, he was God's love in the flesh, walking on two feet. As a matter of fact He was God's love in action, aggressively taking our place of judgment to deliver from the wrath to come those that would call by faith on the name of His Son Jesus. God's love and grace through Jesus' sacrifice Has made us accepted in His presence by placing us as sons and daughters of God himself by faith, apart from works or personal merits.

As I stood before the audience performing that funeral service in memory of my friend's stepson that had died prematurely as a consequence of drug abuse, I was saturated, as I am today, with the conviction and the assurance that the Holy Spirit had given me concerning the spiritual outcome of the young man: he went to be with the Lord.. I was able to bring a measure of peace through the comfort of the scriptures to the hearers. God's love is more aggressive in compassion and mercy than we sometimes in our ignorance are willing to give it. If when we were the children of disobedience, hostile against God and anything that had to do with Him, He passionately and vehemently went after us in His Son, and in Him saw us by faith reconciled with Him, how much more after being reconcile will He be more eager to love on us. There might be other things than drugs that some of us might never be able to overcome and not because there is any fault in God's side, but in our human side. God's love never changes. God's desire is that we all grow and mature into the character of His Son Jesus. God, that has invested so much of Himself toward us, is not that willing to let go of us and throw us in the frying pan just because, in our desire to obey His will, we fail sometimes to achieve our goal. We grow at different rates in different areas of our lives. The closer we get to Him and to our inheritance in His Son the better we grow.

Victor