Fear of Death

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil —and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. – Hebrews 2:14-15 I noticed that a lot of times we’re held back because our own fear of death. I’m not saying a healthy fear of death is not good for the longevity of our lives; however, I am saying that the fear of death incapacitates us to the point of death. Simply, we are too petrified to moved beyond what we hate about our own lives because of the fear we have in losing our old selves and our old lives even if what awaits us through the hardship of a new journey is the life that we always imagined we were created for. You can tell me I’m wrong, but I can also point to your/our fear of death as the root cause of every inaction and every stagnation in our lives. The writer of the Hebrews tells us that Jesus, who is God, did not fear death, but embraced it for the salvation of whom he wished to call “brothers and sisters” before the Father, God. In layman’s terms, God wanted for us to look at death in the face and keep moving past it because there is no power in death over our lives if we so believe the punishment of death is not for us. This is what faith is. Jesus is the pioneer and therefore the model by which we can claim victory over death– because God, the Father, subjected all death and the powers of death underneath Jesus. The punishment deserved by us in our shortcomings, failures and insecurities are siphoned up the most gracious act that we can ever experience and believing this is the only tangible proof we need for hope in salvation, that is, a new slate on life. Here’s what that means for us right now in the present, who are not physically dying, but perhaps dying on the inside emotionally and mentally– your current situation does not dictate your future situation. Your current status does not dictate your tomorrow status. Your life right now, by your accomplishments, failures and shortcomings, means nothing to what God plans for you in His life for you. The bad situations and horrible circumstances that is your life means nothing because it is powerless if you believe you are no longer a victim and slave to it. If you have an addiction you can’t kick on your own, it’s time to give up the fear of that addiction and place yourself in Jesus’ victory over that addiction. If you have failures that seem to dog you, you need to let that go because it does not define you. If you are in a fork in a road where all paths lead to uncertainty, look up and go explore any path because salvation awaits your decision. You can say that I write this not knowing how your shoes feel; but I would tell you that your problem is thinking that other peoples shoes haven’t been where you are. You have nothing on the promiscuous, faulty and mistake ridden characters of the Bible and they were saved and likewise, Jesus saves you and me if we would only “trust in him” and stop fearing death. God is not ashamed of you, and neither am I. Do not fear death and be tricked to think otherwise. Everything and everyone is subject to Jesus, who loves us and saves us daily and He is calling us to him. Do not fear death.