For people who work real hard at not dying, we seem to live in a constant denial of death. Funerals have become moments we try to forget about and move past. If we’re honest, it’s more comforting to distract ourselves. We don’t like to think that there’s another small plot of grass somewhere waiting for our casket.
What would happen, though, if we weren’t afraid of death all that much? Life would take an interesting turn. I’m not talking about a “base jump on a rodeo bull off Mount Everest” sort of thing. Bucket-lists are great, but they don’t take the next trillion years of your life into the equation.
Instead, I’m talking about the reality of forever. There will never be another moment where you don’t exist. Think about how crazy that is. You and I will never not be again. We are forever. To top it all off, death is a thing in the past.
Colossians 3:2-3
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
For those who are in Christ, the worst thing that could ever happen to you has already happened. Spiritual death has been overcome. It’s why we can grieve as those who have hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
But still, the reality of physical death is hard. Here’s how the 16th century Puritan pastor John Owen encouraged his friends…
“I die daily by continually preparing myself to die; I am always in a preparation to die; through the faith of the resurrection, I am always prepared to die cheerfully and comfortably, according to the will of God…
Brethren, I know no man dies willingly, – no man living can have a habitual inclination to close cheerfully with this dissolution – but by looking upon it as a means to come to the enjoyment of Christ. I tell you, your bodies are better to you than all the world, than all your goods, or anything else; but Christ is better still. Grow in that desire of coming to Christ and you will conquer the unwillingness of death.”
The Christian’s Work of Dying Daily
(available here for download)
How do we die happy every day? By throwing our hope on the resurrection, and placing control of our life into the hands of a good and sovereign God. Then we’ll be ready.
The worst part is over anyway. Remember, you died before waking up this morning.
The Faith Gap 