Death is a topic that my finite mind has trouble understanding. It for many years of my life was a fear that seemed to control my decisions. I would always for some reason construct a way to die in situations I was put in. As morbid as that sounds I hope I’m not the only one who did that. Why? Perhaps it was just being a child with a wild imagination. However, I think it was because I thought that the 70 or so years I would be a live would be all there was, and dying young would thwart my success in life. It wasn’t until I grasped the concept of heaven that I could live in freedom, unafraid of death. We shouldn’t fear death, because it was conquered when Jesus rose from the grave. Lewis writes in Miracles that “Death is, in fact, what some modern people call ‘ambivalent’. It is Satan’s great weapon and also God’s great weapon: it is holy and unholy; our supreme disgrace and our only hope; the thing Christ came to conquer and the means by which he conquered.” Should death always be grieved?
I’ve come to realize that death is a part of life. Grieving seems to tail death wherever it goes. In A Greif Observed, Lewis describes “Greif is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape.” I think God uses death to wake people up. Also, He uses death to remind us that this life is temporary, and to cling to our heavenly riches rather than the empty earthly heartaches. Granted, our fleshly reaction is to grieve, but we’re called to a higher standard, a heavenly standard. Death brings forth new life. “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:25 So death should not be a time of morning, but a time to rejoice with the promise of new life engraved in our hearts and minds.
I must say, that I had a difficult time with the idea of death. As I have matured and gotten older, I understand the hope that one has in Christ....even in death.
ReplyDeleteps. love the quote you used in the first paragraph!
death is something that always scares me when i stare into it's cold empty eyes. facing my mortality is something that none of us really want to do.
ReplyDeletewe need to see the light shining through this dark tunnel. although we don't see it all the time, Christ died so that we never have to walk that road alone.
Death isn't fun. It isn't something that we like to discuss or be a part of. The reality is though that we can not avoid it. Death is a guarantee of life. I will bet my life on that... However there is hope in death. Not a physical death, but a spiritual death. Christ has called us all to die to ourselves and follow Him. So in someways, death is a good thing. I don't want to sound morbid, but for those that have decided to follow Christ, we have hope in dying to ourselves
ReplyDeleteDeath definitely does a good job of reawakening our focus on life and God.
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