Death

Because I live, you also will live (John 14:19).

We have a pretty casual attitude towards death. In the summer we are quick to swat flies and mosquitoes; in the winter, we hope that the cat will dispose of any mice that get into the house. When we hit a deer while driving, we’re more concerned with the state of our car and the health of our passengers than we are with the condition of the animal. Hunters see death as a sport. Most of us don’t think twice about where the meat on our plate came from. We can drive past a cemetery and barely spare it a passing glance. We can listen to reports of people killed on the news, and not lose our appetite while eating a meal.

We often treat death casually because it is a part of everyday existence. Every day, people die in accidents. Every day, sickness steals another life. Farm kids are frequently exposed to the bodies of dead and dying animals; big city kids sometimes hear gunshots in the night or see bloodstains on the sidewalk.

We make gory death a dazzling special effect in video games and horror movies. Kids feel no shame for tipping over grave markers. We even dedicate a major holiday in October to the theme of death and dying. Many wear Halloween costumes decorated with copious amounts of fake blood.

Death goes on all around us. People and animals, birds and fish, insects and plant life—each day, they contribute to a massive death toll that we hardly even notice. We flirt with death by doing dangerous things. We get a thrill from death in many forms of entertainment. Frankly, there is so much death in the world that we’ve grown numb to it.

That is, except when it touches us personally. Death is a very different matter when a favorite pet has to be put to sleep. Death is a terrible thing when it claims a loved one. Death seems huge and monstrous when it threatens to put us in the ground.

Death is an inevitable fact of life. But death doesn’t have to make you afraid or empty your life of contentment. Jesus has the power to bring the dead back to life. He proved that power by rising alive from His own grave after dying to forgive our wrongdoing. Jesus is the Lord of Life; as His friend, you can overcome death as well.