Wednesday, March 23, 2016
When I was a kid and up until my early thirties, I was very much afraid of death. I bet many of you can identify with that. Most of us, however, now that we are in Christ, no longer fear it. The truth is that most Christians get to a point in their life when they actually welcome it. Fear is a hard thing to understand at times and I suppose all people have a certain degree of it especially when it concerns the unknown. We all fear different things, yet we all fear something and it is not uncommon for God’s children to fear getting sick but not fear death itself. Strange, right? I am not a great theologian, but I’m pretty sure that fear entered the world on the day that Adam and Eve disobeyed and sinned against God. Up until that day, they did not know what it was. In fact, were it not because of that first sin, we would not know what fear is today. Just like pain, heartache, grief, worry, and sickness and all other type of suffering, fear is for this life only. All of these things will end the instant we enter Heaven.
If you still are afraid of death, even though you are a child of God, there is no need for it. Jesus’ death and resurrection already stripped it of it’s power. That is why the Apostle Paul could write: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Corinthians15:55) Death is now like a roaring lion without teeth and claws. It is not the real thing, only a shadow. Perhaps that’s why David wrote in the 23rd Psalm, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”
And speaking of shadows; in Pastor Adrian Rogers’ devotional yesterday, I read about the little girl who was riding in her father’s car one day when they passed a big delivery truck on the freeway. As it passed by, she cried out, “Daddy look at the huge shadow that truck is making!” He quickly asked her: “Sweetheart, if you had your choice, would you rather be hit by the truck or by it’s shadow?” She replied, “That’s easy, the shadow can’t hurt me.” It is the same with us: Because of Jesus, earthly death is just a shadow. It can’t hurt us.
Memory verse for the week: (Psalm 16:8) “I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.”
