I Want My Death to Magnify Christ and to Sanctify Others

The death of a loved one is a hard thing to wrestle with. One moment you go from talking and chatting with a friend or a family member. The next, you're standing next to their grave, saying farewell. There's an obvious hole that's left in one's life when a loved one departs. Still, as Christians, we can often point to the sanctifying work the Lord does in our lives through the death of someone. Although our hearts break, we know that God causes all things, including death, to grow us more into the likeness of Christ (Rom 8:28-30).

I've been stuck on the thought of how God would use my death to sanctify others. I wonder how Christ will use my absence to fashion those I've left behind more into his image. It's a morbid thought and one that, I believe, God has brought to my mind to teach me to number my days. But it's a thought that's worth meditating on. How will God use my death to magify Christ and to grow others into Christ's likeness? I wonder what will happen to those in my life--my family, my friends, and even mere acquaintances-- after I die.

We often think of what will be said in our obituaries, in our eulogies, or on our gravestone. "He was a great man" or "She was a kind woman" is something that we would like to be said of us. But what about after the funeral? What about after the burial plot is covered in grass and your gravestone is green with moss? Have you ever thought about what your absence will mean for those who remain? Have you ever thought about how your absence could be used to sanctify others? Have you ever thought about how your death could draw another person to worship and magnify Christ?

One guy that seems to have thought about this idea a lot was the apostle Paul. In Philippians 1:20, he states, "it is my eager expectation that Christ will be magnfied in my body, whether by life or by death." If you think about it, Paul's statement is astonishing. He wants Christ to look great and magnificent by his living and by his dying. Paul is eager that his death shows Christ's greatness just as much as his life does. Paul may just be thinking of how he wishes to go out. It may be that he's expressing how he'd like to die in glorious Christian fashion, being beheaded for the faith, and never denying Christ. Certainly, that makes Christ look great. But I also wonder if the apostle is pointing to how he'd like for others to magnify Christ long after he's dead. He wants Christ to be worshipped and Christians to be sanctified as a result of his dying.

Of course, this calls to question, "how is Christ magnified and how are Christians grown in our death?" I think there are two answers to this:

Christ is magnified and Christians are sanctified by Christians living as if he is worth everything.

Paul's states in the following verse, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil 1:21). Here we see Paul showing how he plans on magnifying Christ in his death. Paul lives as if Christ is the greatest gain there ever is. Christians magnify Christ in their death by living as if Christ is the only thing to live for and as if death is getting more of Christ. When others look at the Christian life, they should see that Christ is the greatest person to ever live for. Therefore, it should be our hope that, as others look at our lives when we die, the only thing others are left to say is "Christ is glorious and worth living for."

Christ is magnified and Christians are sanctified by God using the trial of a Christian's death.

Sanctification is the refining work of God in the believer's life, growing them in the truth that Christ alone is glorious and worth living for. Trials are one of God's primary works of sanctification. James 1, shows us that trials and suffering are God's means of growing us more into Christ likeness. Therefore, it's good to think of how God will use the trial of a Christian's death to shape others further into his likeness. Just as he uses the pain of the death of another person in our life to grow us more into Christ, he will use our deaths to grow others.

It's a morbid truth to think about but a glorious one as well. It's something about which I think Christians should think and pray more. I want God to use the suffering of my death to grow my brothers and sisters in a way that my personal discipleship cannot. I want, when I die, for others to look to Christ and honestly say, "You are glorious, you are enough, and you alone are worth living for." Therefore, in this way, I want Christ to be magnified in my death.