Get it done now!
I don’t remember things well any more. So I don’t like having to remember to get ‘round to doing a thing. Consequently, when a ‘to-do’ task comes along, or a bill arrives, or a disagreement crops up, I prefer, as often as I can, to get it done, or paid, or resolved right away. When I can, it makes me appear efficient; when I can’t, it only makes me grumpy!
One thing on everyone’s ‘to-do’ list that most folk prefer to postpone is death. “It is appointed unto men once to die.” (Heb. 9:27). Scripture affirms it, experience validates it, and reason anticipates it. But still, many attempt to ignore it.
“I am not afraid of death,” began Woody Allen, “I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Like Damocles’ sword death hangs over our heads as we try to dine on life.
But did you know you can get death over with early?
Christ offers us a way out of the dread of death. When we will come to Him in repentance, offering Him our current life in this world, He gives to us of His life… eternal life… eternal life now.
“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3).
As Paul testified,
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20).,
Paul is not here advocating suicide, but surrender. As he writes in Romans, “count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God.” (Rom. 6:11).
The great thing about getting death over with early is that it opens the door to resting in God. As our brother Joseph shared with us this past Sunday, God is in control – He is in control personally now too. You have already died… you hold no claim upon your earthly experience. You are His, “bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:20). You belong to God. Physical death is nothing in the story of your being — just a comma along the way!
This is why Paul could exult,
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:35, 37-39).
Believer, you are already dead. Nothing can truly harm you. God is in control!
Press on…
To hear this past Sunday’s message, go to the Facebook page of Lincoln Baptist Church, or link to the livestream from the church website.
thebrokenrunner 