Tuesday, March 29, 2011

March 30, 2011

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

A couple of days ago I talked about the two reasons for fearing death, the certainty of death - you know it will happen - and the uncertainty of death - you don't know when or how it will happen. Either of those OR both of those can be cause for fear if you don't know how to confront them.

To remove the uncertainty of death make sure that you are prepared to die today. Make sure you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior for the forgiveness of your sins. Having your sins forgiven and knowing that your name is written in the Book of Life and His Spirit dwelling in you will give you the certainty that you are ready to be in the presence of God whenever that time comes.

Having established that, to be completely free from the fear of death, understood that death you should fear. Does that sound like a contradiction? Not if you understand God's perspective of death.

God looks at death from the vantage point of life. He IS life! There is no death in Him. Death is His enemy. Death cannot exist in His presence. Therefore, death happens because you are separated from life - aka - God. That death, of course, is spiritual death because it is "in Him we live, and move and have our being". And what is it that separates us from life (God) is sin. A holy God cannot dwell with or have fellowship with a sinner and when you willfully sin you break the fellowship and your soul dies. If your body dies while your spirit is separated from God, you will die the most fearful death - separated from God - FOREVER. Fear that!

Physical death, however, is an entirely different matter. As Jesus said to His dear friends Mary and Martha, Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

Jesus was making it clear to His Dear friends that they did not need to fear physical death. And, for a very good reason, you DON'T die. The moment your body flatlines and your physical life ceases you will immediately open your eyes in Heaven! The essential you NEVER dies! It never skips a beat or a breath and you leave one realm of living to eternally enjoy the new and eternal life. In the words of Jesus, if you are in Him, the essential you will never die! Can you get excited about that prospect? Can you feel your fear level begin to dec
rease? Can you feel you faith level rising?

If you want to fear death, fear spiritual death! Fear the prospect of dying without knowing the Lord as your Savior! You should fear being spiritually disconnected from God!

"The wages (what you have earned) of sin is death, but the GIFT (available lavish love and grace of God) is ETERNAL life!"  Romans 6:23

Get "FEARLESS" about death!

Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? Have you received His gift of eternal life?