Faith Alone - February 27, 2012

Unafraid of Death

For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been
raised either.  And if Christ has not been raised,
your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
I Corinthians 15:16-17

It has wisely been said, "Those who fear death are fools, for by doing this they lose their own life."  This would be a good sayiing if anyone could do it.  Everyone knows that people won't get anywhere by fearing death.  They will only ruin their lives and never be happy.  We see this with people who are in deep sadness.  They wouldn't be conformed or feel joyful even if you wrapped them with golden robes, filled them with the best food and drink, and offered them all kinds of entertainment, even music on stringed instruments.  They don't feel alive.  They walk around with morbid thoughts of death, and they are practically dead already.  So people tell us that the best thing to do is to throw off this fear, force it out of our minds, and say to ourselves, "Why should be worry?  When we are dead, we are dead."  Just as the Corinthians said, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" (I Corinthians 15:32).  However, this is a shortcut because it pretends God's wrath, hell, and damnation don't even exist.

But Christians can't pretend that way.  They can't just toss this fear out of a heart that wants to believe.  In fact, they only feel this fear even more as their faith struggles to grow.  We should comfort them by saying, "Dear friend, if you are continually distressed by living, if you feel poor and miserable, then take care and understand this is happening because you are a Christian."  Otherwise, you wouldn't be tormented by this fear of death and hell.  But you must guard yourself againt this fear and hold firmly to the fact that your Christ has been risen from the dead.