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I went to a local supermarket on New Year’s Day and noticed something interesting: the most eye-catching spot near the entrance was filled with weight-loss and fitness products. It’s fascinating how people love to make resolutions at the start of a new year, such as losing weight or getting fit, and how businesses are so adept at catering to these desires.

While many are busy planning and strategizing for the new year, I couldn’t help but think of a relative who was only three years older than me but had already passed away. She had plans for her future like others, but her life ended in her thirties. As a Christian, I believe heaven and hell exist, as well as the spirit and soul. So I know that those who have passed away are witnessing this year from somewhere else. I hope she went to heaven, but I can’t say with certainty that she did.

When she passed away, many relatives sent messages of condolence in our family WeChat group, and most of them included the common phrase, “May she find peace in heaven.” Heaven is part of my belief since I converted to Christianity at 16, but I didn’t mention heaven in my condolences due to my uncertainty. So I was shocked when my atheist or Buddha-worshiping relatives spontaneously used this term which does not belong to their belief systems.

There’s an American saying: “There are no atheists in foxholes.” When facing death, everyone hopes that heaven exists so that they will never say goodbye or vanish, but simply move to another place. It’s not a shame to have such hope, because it’s the basic human desire for survival, which will lead atheists or those who burn incense to set aside their belief systems in the face of death and long for another belief, heaven and the only true God described by Christianity.

In her final six months, my relative approached me intermittently for questions related to God: Is God real? If He is, why would He allow a terminal illness to happen to her? Would God heal her? Could He let her live several more decades?

She was a Buddhist who practiced vegetarianism and adopted stray cats, yet in her final days, she sought answers through the lens of a Christian. I asked her why she was seeking answers from Christianity. From my perspective, when life is smooth, people often feel that the Christians’ God has nothing to do with them; but when crisis strikes, they suddenly see God as the one responsible. The line of thinking is contradictory. If one believes that God is entirely unrelated to us, then logically, both the blessings and hardships in life should have nothing to do with God. So, when suffering occurs, dragging an unrelated God into the picture to hold Him accountable would overturn the entire logic. Therefore, I was curious if she had genuinely changed her perspective or was simply trying to shift the blame onto the Christians’ God. _{(I mentioned in another article “It Must Be God’s Will” that one shouldn’t hastily blame God.)}

She replied that it’s because the Christians’ God addresses human suffering. She was right. Buddhism teaches individual transcendence, but even if one achieves transcendence, the masses still remain in suffering, and the afflictions of the world are not removed. However, the God of Christianity, first of all, only created what was good. For example, there was no suffering or death at creation.

“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good…”—Gen 1:31

Secondly, later on, humans by committing sins introduced death to this world and brought suffering upon themselves. Yet, God provided a solution to the threat of death in His grace.

“What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.”—Rom 6:21

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”—Rom 6:23

The wages of sin is death, so the root cause of all illness is sin. When I pointed this out, she wasn’t upset. She didn’t feel offended by me implying that she was a sinner. After all, those who follow Buddhism often sigh, “Zui Guo, Zui Guo!” (“Sin, sin”), acknowledging human wrongdoing. She was not ignorant of the sins of humanity or her own. She even joked that she might have already destroyed the world because of humanity’s sin if she were God, The Christians’ God, she remarked, must be incredibly patient.

She was clear that her illness was not a punishment from God, but she struggled with why God didn’t heal her at this moment since He possessed supernatural power.

She wasn’t the only one to ask this question. Since my husband and I do ministry, we’ve had opportunities to preach at funerals and weddings. Among those attending funerals, some understand how God graciously offers eternal life to sinners, and they can hold peace and hope in front of death. But there are also those who are unaware of God’s work and question why He doesn’t intervene to save the dying one.

Why God doesn’t intervene to save the dying one?! This question completely overlooks the sacrifice of Jesus who is the image of God, coming into this world, and being crucified for sin.

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”—Rom 5:6-8

Some might press further, saying that the salvation they seek is from illness, not from sin. Oh, ignorant ones! Have you not yet realized that the root of human suffering is sin? Jesus, by becoming the sacrificial lamb for our sins, addressed the root issue. Unless this sin is removed, the sting of disease, suffering, and death will always remain.

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…”—Rom 5:12

“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”—Rom 5:19

The Scripture says, “by the obedience of one,” referring to Christ being crucified for our sins. His taking on our punishment transformed us from condemned prisoners into free people, no longer under the threat of death.

“That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”—Rom 5:21

The gift of God is eternal life. There will be no suffering, disease, or death in heaven, where we will have joy, peace, and contentment. Doesn’t this exactly solve the afflictions of this world? Yet, my relative asked that while heaven is a wonderful place and it would be good to go there after death, could God extend her life by a few decades, allowing her to die naturally like everyone else?

My dear, do you know that God created time? His concept of time is entirely different from ours.

“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”—2 Pet 3:8

Imagine the God who views a thousand years as a day, hearing a plea to extend life from the thirties to the eighties. This request is like someone who needs to wake up at 6 a.m. asking to set the alarm for 6:05 instead. To someone who can sleep until the sun is high in the sky, adjusting the alarm by five minutes is as if no change was made at all.

My relative wanted God to “adjust the alarm clock” for her life, but God sees the real issue is that humans die, and “adjusting the alarm clock” cannot remove death. A supermarket caters to customers’ desires, providing whatever they prefer, but God is not a supermarket. He measures what we truly need, not what we prefer.

Many people, driven by the suffering, seek miracles from God. God does not cater to each person’s whims by performing different wonders. Instead, He teaches us through His Scriptures that all suffering stems from sin. Thus, when Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world and was asked for miracles, He said that this generation needs only one miracle.

“And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.”—Luke 11:29-30

“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”—Matt 12:40

Jesus was crucified on the cross, descended into hell for three days like Jonah, and rose again on the third day. This miracle addresses the root cause of human suffering. So instead of getting an extra 5 minutes on the alarm, humans can access eternity. It is what we truly need, though not necessarily what the world asks for.

I shared this miracle with my relative and told her about God’s gift, but I could not read her heart. Whether she would find this gift good or accept it, I may only know the answer when I redeem the God’s heavenly gift.

When a person’s preferences align with the gift of God, that individual, while still in this world, lives free from the threat of suffering and death, having hope, peace, and freedom. And when he departs from this world, it will not be a loss but a harvest for him. Only such a person can joyfully quote this Bible verse that seemingly irrational:

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”—Phil 1:21