Is it strange to you if I were to tell you I openly talk to my family about my own death?—actually, quite regularly. They don’t seem to appreciate it, and I wonder why. Seriously, if someday my doctor were to say to me I could no longer eat as much of my favorite foods as I would like to eat, and if God says okay, I would say to myself it is time for me to go! Are you someone who doesn’t like to talk about death? Are you someone who has a fear of death? I suppose most people have, to a certain degree.
More than any other good thing Jesus asks the Father to do for us, he wants us to be in heaven with him—like now, like today. This was always his plan.
“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24
Jesus went ahead to heaven so he may prepare heaven for us.
“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2
This all sounds very nice, but we still have the fear of death. Even the devout Christ follower has the occasional thanatophobia, in one form or another. It is hard-wired into our nature to fight off death. One day, we may find ourselves pleading with God to give us the very opposite of what Jesus wants for us.
The reasons why we fear death can be many but I sense the main reason we all are a little bit afraid is because it is a big unknown. What does it feel like to die? How will I die? What will I see as my life leaves my physical body? What is it like to take my last breath? Many questions, but few answers. No one has come back from a death experience and described it to us. Therefore, it is not unreasonable for us to be a little unsettled. Then there is the fear over leaving our loved ones behind. Who is going to take care of my family? Would my friends be okay? What if my pet is looking for me?
I. It is okay not to like death
Death was not in God’s original plan for his creation. Life was. We were not made for death. Death is a curse that came for us because we didn’t want to have anything to do with God. I hate death. There, I said it. Death is a horrible thing. There are many hard things we have to go through in life, but I believe the hardest thing we have to go through here on this planet is saying goodbye to a loved one. No words can describe the last moments watching a loved one die. It is okay for us to not like death.
II. Death is necessary
I will never like death, but I am slowly beginning to see death as God’s grace to us. If we didn’t die, we would never leave our sinful state for all eternity. If we didn’t die, we would never arrive at our final destination of being with our God. We must go through death in order to go to the Father. As much as we don’t like death, death is necessary. We must gradually learn to accept what we fear the most in order to enjoy what we long for the most.
I wish to see more Christians be a little less afraid of death. We are, after all, going to be okay. Unlike this world, we know what is going to happen. Unlike this world, we know where we are going. If you are someone who has a fear of death, what I ask of you to do is pray. Paul said, “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” He also said in another place that being with Christ is far better than being in the body. Ask God to grant you his view of death. When God says it is time for you to come home, you will have complete joy, and you will wonder why the idea of passing through the valley of the shadow of death ever made you afraid in the first place.
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” John 11:25–26