I’m afraid to die

-

I’m afraid to die

Psychologists tell us that even young children are afraid of death. There’s nothing wrong with you if you’re afraid to die; maybe there’s something wrong with you if you aren’t!

There are two reasons why we’re afraid to die. One is that death is the great unknown, and we naturally fear the unknown, like a dark room. Christianity sheds light on this darkness (Prov 14:27). Christ assures us that there is life after death by preaching it (Jn 3:36), but most of all by showing us the Resurrection from the dead (Mk 16:6).

The second reason we fear death is that we’re afraid to meet God face-to-face because we know, all of us, deep down, that we don’t deserve God or Heaven. “There’s a little bad in the best of us”, and the best of us are the first to admit it. “Death gets its power to hurt from sin” (1 Cor 15:56).

Would you like to meet God face-to-face right now, with no defenses, no hiding, no evasion? That’s like asking whether you would like it if every thought that you have thought today, every desire and feeling that you have had today, were played on the six o’clock news for the whole world to see.

Jesus came into this world to take care of the sin problem. The essential message of Christianity is that Jesus saves us from sin. He paid the price for sin: death. In the King James Version, 1 Corinthians 15:56 reads, “The sting of death is sin”, and that sting was put into Christ on the Cross. Death is now like a bee without a stinger: it can’t hurt us. Death brings us into God’s presence, and we have a Savior who has reconciled us to God, made peace, bought Heaven for us.

God has changed death from a monster to a mother. Instead of a monster waiting to devour us, it is a mother giving birth to us. This whole world is like a giant womb, and when we die it is like being born into the far greater world, God’s world. He is waiting with arms ready to receive us.

It’s O.K. if you’re afraid to die. But remember Jesus’ promise, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies” (Jn 11:25).

God did not make death. When a loved one dies, do not say, “God took him.” Death took him, but God took death. God tamed the monster. This was foretold in the Old Testament when Isaiah the prophet wrote, “The Sovereign LORD will destroy death forever! He will wipe away the tears from everyone’s eyes” (Is 25:8). It was accomplished by Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead. Because we belong to him who conquered death, Saint Paul can say, “I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life … there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38–39).



Kreeft, P. J. (1994). Your Questions, God’s Answers (pp. 22–24). Ignatius Press.

Popular posts from this blog

Speaking in tongues for today - Charles Stanley

-
Image
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. … But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. … And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. … Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way - 1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, 28, 30—31 The Lord Jesus Christ had come and gone. The church—newly birthed—was in a transition time. The new covenant was seen as a threat to the Jewish leaders; therefore, there was persecution for those who had chosen to follow Christ. The new religion, in its infant stages, had no Bible, few leaders, and absolutely no support from the government. Astounding that it survived, isn’t it?  How in the world did it survive with so little going for it? Power. Not just a force, but mighty, visible power. This new church
Read more

What is the glory (kabod) of God?

-
Image
2 CORINTHIANS 4:17 "This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." Scripture places a high value on God 's glory, and it is not hard to figure out why. Since the inherent glory of the Lord is something that He will not share with others (Isa. 42:8), we know that His glory is something that He prizes highly; indeed, He prizes it more highly than anything else. We should, therefore, set the glory of God as the goal and overarching emphasis of our lives. Whatever we lose for the sake of making the Lord's glory known will be worth it when we see the dazzling light and beauty of; the divine glory (28:5; Rev. 21:23). Glory has to do with light and beauty, but those aspects do not sum up what the Bible means when it speaks of the glory of God. Interestingly, the Hebrew word kabod , which is translated into English as "glory," has the root meaning of "weight" or "heaviness."
Read more

The Holy Spirit causes us to cry out: Abba, Father

-
Image
Pentecostés. Óleo sobre lienzo, 275 × 127 cm. Madrid, Museo del Prado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) To bring out the same truth in another way, Paul says God sent Jesus (as a Man) to live under the Law in order “to redeem those under law, that we [Jews and Gentiles ] might receive the full rights [adoption] of sons” ( Galatians 4:5).  By “full rights” or “adoption” he means entering into the privileges and responsibilities of sonship. He uses it also of the sonship of Israel (Romans 9:4). Galatians 4:1, 2 indicate that the son and heir of a wealthy family in Paul’s day would be treated as a slave until he became of age.  Then he would receive the adoption, that is, all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that belonged to an adult member of that family. Adoption was also used in the modern sense, so that Gentiles who were not sons of Abraham became true heirs, true sons of God , by faith.  Jesus died, not just to save us from the fires of hell, but to make it p
Read more