When our children are growing up we tell them to face difficulty and not to deny it, or run away. We tell them not to procrastinate when faced with unpleasant assignments and taxing projects. We tell them to look problems straight in the eye and go after them. We need to apply this wisdom to our own lives if we are going to be truly free and if we would experience life abundantly.
The reality of our life's limited duration in the flesh is ever before us. A day doesn't pass when we don't consider our age and the sense of sand moving through the hourglass. We sometimes wonder at the face that stares back from the mirror, at how it is changing and progressively growing older. Beneath all of our consciousness is the drumbeat of time that reminds us that one day we will die. Yes, we will die. We were born and we will die. We've known a number of others who have passed on before us and we know we will... we must... go through that door too. We don't consider this a pleasant thought. Regardless of our spiritual experience, we really don't relish the concept, or anticipate the reality of death with eagerness. (OK, take a deep breath) The great truth in Jesus is that He has taken death captive, made it His prisoner. He has conquered death...shown us that there is life on the other side of that mysterious door. He also has removed the sting of death, which is having to stand naked before God with our track record of sin and failure, after we die. I think we really need to nail it down, once and for all, that our sins...our failures have already been addressed perfectly and adequately in Jesus. If we allow a fear of death, in any shade or shadow, to tinge our life experience then we somehow diminish what Christ has done for us. I believe too many people allow the shadow of dying to fall over their days here. As Christians we believe that death is the time when we, as fully ripened fruit, are plucked with perfect timing to add something special to Heaven. We don't want to go either too early or too late, as fruit is unpleasant in either condition. If we are to walk in victory with a passion for the eternal dimension of life in Christ that really is refreshing to this world, we must start by staring death straight in the eye and declaring our fear of dying is forever dead. Praise God, we walk in life and from life to life!
Hebrews 2:14-15 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Blessings to all...live in hope!
Rob Smith
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