I could spend all day giving you valid reasons why serving Jesus is worthwhile. One of those reasons is the banishment of fear and anxiety regarding death.
Night shadows were gathering as an old man sat at a cemetery gate. A little girl ten years old, entered the cemetery as if she hadn’t a care in the world. It surprised the elderly gentleman and peaked his curiosity. He asked her, “Little girl, aren’t you afraid to go through the cemetery in the dark?” “Oh no,” she replied, “my home is just on the other side.”
The man or woman with Christ as Lord and Savior believes that about death. Like David, we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, fearing no evil. The Psalmist wrote it so beautifully in the classic verse: “The days of our years are three score and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet in their strength labor and sorrow; for it is so cut off, and we fly away.” (Psalms 90:10).
Hope. Optimism. Bywords of the Christian! If a man die, shall he live again? Jesus made the promise to you so clear: “I say unto you, He that believeth in me hath everlasting life.” (John 6:47).
Perhaps you don’t care to think about it-maybe it’s a frightening subject to you-but everyone reading this article has an appointment with death. The only way to circumvent that is to be taken with Jesus when he comes to get His bride. It could happen in our generation, but then again, it might not. If not, death will be the experience of every man. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement”. (Hebrews 9:27).
Now you know as well as the undertaker what happens to your body when it dies. But what about your soul? Does the soul sleep in unconscious state in the grave until the Resurrection? Or does it enter heaven or hell immediately?
Scripture answers the question so clearly. There is no pause in the awareness of life or the soul. There are no intervening decades or centuries of unconsciousness. Death becomes the entry way into eternity. Jesus turned to the thief on the cross beside Him and gave him hope: “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise”. (Luke 23:43).
What about you? Does the subject of death petrify you? Do you feel the shadows closing in on you? Does it cause panic in your soul? Then let me urge you to allow Christ to be your Savior and Lord. You never have to be afraid again.
You will be able to sing with Philip Bliss who wrote the great song: “When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, though has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.”
