FREE FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH

As many of you know, I'm now doing work for the Hospice. Last week I started training, and was overwhelmed with what I saw. Many of these people who were dying were filled with more life than many healthy people. Hospice has a program that is called living memories. They make a video of the patients life from start to finish and put it on a DVD. It's truly amazing to see these people stare in the face of death and smile. The beautiful part of this mission field is that I get the chance to witness to these people before they meet the Lord. These people reflect the true attitude towards death that every Christian should hold. What an opportunity. Bust what does the Bible say about our attitude towards an impending death?

1 Corinthians 15:55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?

Most fears can be reduced to a fear of man or death. Death looms over many as the ultimate fear-object. The fact that death is imminent is clearly established in Scripture: "It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).

But Christians don't have to fear death. Jesus removed death as a legitimate fear-object by taking away its power when He died for our sins. Jesus Himself said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die" (John 11:25, 26). Even though we will eventually die physically, we'll continue to live spiritually.


Every person of God is spiritually alive, and even physical death can't separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38). Paul says, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). Why? When we physically die, we'll receive a resurrected body and be far better off than we are today. Try putting something else into Paul's formula; for instance, "For me to live is success." Then to die would be what? Loss! "For me to live is a good physical body." Again, to die would be loss.

I often ask people, "What is the worst thing that could happen to you?" "Well, I could die," they answer. To which I respond, "Then you have nothing to fear, since the Bible says death may be the best thing that could happen to you!" The ultimate value is not physical life but spiritual life. If our life is hidden in Christ, then we won't suffer loss when we physically die. We can only gain. We can say confidently with Paul, "O death where is your sting?" The person who is free from the fear of death is free to live today.

Living with no fear
Pastor Mike








*Strangest Dream*

"I had the strangest dream last night," a man was telling his psychiatrist.

"I saw my mother, but when she turned around to look at me, I noticed that she had your face. You can imagine, I found this very disturbing, and in fact I woke up immediately, and couldn't get back to sleep. I just lay there in bed waiting for morning to come, and then I got up, drank a Coke, and came right over here for my appointment. I thought you could help me explain the meaning of this strange dream."

The psychiatrist was silent for a full minute before responding:

"A Coke? You call that a breakfast?"