One-a-Day...for the Heart: O Death, Where is Your Sting?

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by: Chris Werre

04/03/2026

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 I reached down beside my easy chair to pick up a stack of books, and suddenly, there was a sharp, stabbing needle-pricking sensation in my finger. “Ouch!” I exclaimed while examining the finger. Sure enough, there was a pinpoint-sized hole in my finger that was already reddened and painful. 
     A lazy wasp with “guilty” written all over it crawled from under the book pile. Wasps usually don't leave stingers, so they can keep stinging. I didn't need a second sting to remind me of the pain; it distracted me for quite a while that morning.
      When death comes near, and a loved one passes, we grieve the loss and often lose our bearings for a season. That is a normal process of grief. However, the assurance that our loved one has passed into glory brings comfort and healing. The only “sting” we feel is the absence of their friendship and companionship. In time, the sting of losing them eases, just as the wasp sting gradually lessened in pain and inflammation throughout the morning.
     As Jesus hung on the cross and died for the sins of the world, His family and followers felt the sting of imminent separation from Him. The man Jesus--son, brother, friend, and Lord--was dying an excruciating death right before their eyes, and He would soon breathe His last breath and be gone from their presence. Life would go on, but shock and horror stung their hearts during those intense moments.
     A more severe sting beyond the sting of separation--and one that many onlookers weren't even aware of--was the sting that death had before Jesus died on the cross. The stark, biting reality was, and is, that no man can come to the Father and spend eternity with Him in Paradise without acknowledging Jesus Christ as his Savior. Only the blood of Jesus shed for us on the cross will cleanse us from the sin that separates us from Father God. Separation from God because of sin is the real sting of death.
     "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NASB). Jesus' sacrificial death took the sting of sin and eternal damnation from all those who confess Him as their Lord and Savior.
    An eternity in hell stings. Like the wasp, it will keep stinging, and the torment will never stop. It's very probable that the unrepentant criminal beside Jesus who did not humble himself and accept the Savior is being stung again and again with the torment of hell. The gift of salvation was given to us as Jesus breathed his last breath and finished His mission for humanity.
     There were many God-fearing people on earth before Jesus' time who feared and walked closely with the Lord. Names like Moses, Abraham, Noah, Ruth, Deborah, David, Elijah, Job, and so on are enjoying eternal life because their righteous lives were counted as faith in God, and He always rewards faith.
     A simple decision to surrender to Jesus, accept Him as the Son of God, and believe in Him secures our place in Paradise. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life," John 3:16 promises. Death can no longer sting us; instead, it ushers us into the glorious presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and our loving Heavenly Father.
     On this Resurrection weekend, let's remember to thank the Lord for removing the sting of sin and death forever. Because of how HE spent these three days so many years ago, we will spend eternity in Paradise.
© 2024, 2026 Chris Custer Werre 
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 I reached down beside my easy chair to pick up a stack of books, and suddenly, there was a sharp, stabbing needle-pricking sensation in my finger. “Ouch!” I exclaimed while examining the finger. Sure enough, there was a pinpoint-sized hole in my finger that was already reddened and painful. 
     A lazy wasp with “guilty” written all over it crawled from under the book pile. Wasps usually don't leave stingers, so they can keep stinging. I didn't need a second sting to remind me of the pain; it distracted me for quite a while that morning.
      When death comes near, and a loved one passes, we grieve the loss and often lose our bearings for a season. That is a normal process of grief. However, the assurance that our loved one has passed into glory brings comfort and healing. The only “sting” we feel is the absence of their friendship and companionship. In time, the sting of losing them eases, just as the wasp sting gradually lessened in pain and inflammation throughout the morning.
     As Jesus hung on the cross and died for the sins of the world, His family and followers felt the sting of imminent separation from Him. The man Jesus--son, brother, friend, and Lord--was dying an excruciating death right before their eyes, and He would soon breathe His last breath and be gone from their presence. Life would go on, but shock and horror stung their hearts during those intense moments.
     A more severe sting beyond the sting of separation--and one that many onlookers weren't even aware of--was the sting that death had before Jesus died on the cross. The stark, biting reality was, and is, that no man can come to the Father and spend eternity with Him in Paradise without acknowledging Jesus Christ as his Savior. Only the blood of Jesus shed for us on the cross will cleanse us from the sin that separates us from Father God. Separation from God because of sin is the real sting of death.
     "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NASB). Jesus' sacrificial death took the sting of sin and eternal damnation from all those who confess Him as their Lord and Savior.
    An eternity in hell stings. Like the wasp, it will keep stinging, and the torment will never stop. It's very probable that the unrepentant criminal beside Jesus who did not humble himself and accept the Savior is being stung again and again with the torment of hell. The gift of salvation was given to us as Jesus breathed his last breath and finished His mission for humanity.
     There were many God-fearing people on earth before Jesus' time who feared and walked closely with the Lord. Names like Moses, Abraham, Noah, Ruth, Deborah, David, Elijah, Job, and so on are enjoying eternal life because their righteous lives were counted as faith in God, and He always rewards faith.
     A simple decision to surrender to Jesus, accept Him as the Son of God, and believe in Him secures our place in Paradise. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life," John 3:16 promises. Death can no longer sting us; instead, it ushers us into the glorious presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and our loving Heavenly Father.
     On this Resurrection weekend, let's remember to thank the Lord for removing the sting of sin and death forever. Because of how HE spent these three days so many years ago, we will spend eternity in Paradise.
© 2024, 2026 Chris Custer Werre 
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