How Death Affects The Christian Life

...Death is evident in all life. This is not a hidden secret, but is a truth found in all living things. It is the dog who responds viciously to the punishment of the owner that portrays the knowledge of such truth as well as the mother who shields her baby from the cold, hard, truth of reality. The Christian and the carnal man arrive at the same point in space in time. How does one deal with the dignity of man and his abilities, yet live with the depravity of knowing he will end? The carnal man is fragmented in his answer by stating that it is life that is the reason for living. The lyrics of the very popular song Name by the Goo Goo Dolls exemplify this: “Don’t it make you sad to know that life, is more than who you are?” Meaning: this life does not determine your meaning and it cannot be reached corporeally. Thus, the carnal man will strive for everything he can touch, feel, taste and see. He avoids death at all costs until it is inevitably at his doorstep and he cannot avoid it. He is afraid of death because it is the end of himself.

The Christian is told by Jesus that he is to fear not because He has overcome the world. The Christian is told that death—to the flesh—is the beginning of himself. The Christian does not hold the fact of the time and place of his own death, but the knowledge that death is evident. So the superiority does not come with facts in space in time, but in the belief of the Being that is in control of the death. Yet the Christian still fights and runs from this truth as does the carnal man. The Christian still is fearful of his own death because of the uncertainty of the situation. Furthermore, the Christian is fearful or does not know how to handle the subject of death because he has allowed himself to be deceived by the world he lives in that he is immortal. Through the complexity of life in modern culture, the Christian has filled his time with responsibilities of this world. His Spiritual life is filled with the disciplines of the faith, the constant “doing” of tasks that he seldom stops. He is like the carnal man in this subject of death in that he responds to the uncertainty of the subject by filling his life with certainty.

This is the downfall of the Christian. He spends his time filling it with the search for answers to questions that are temporal and ephemeral, but can be answered. Yet the questions he cannot answer he does not ponder because those reveal his own depravity and limitations. The Christian runs from sin as the Bible teaches only to realize he is simply running externally from sin and not internally. He cannot allow the flesh inside of him to die because he himself has not dealt with the topic of death himself. Once the Christian can live with the notion that he will end and not forget who he is, is when he can begin to live in Christ. It was Jesus who did not run to His disciplines and doctrine to rescue Him while on the cross, but accepted His fate by trusting His father. Jesus lived with the reality of His fate and in this He truly lived.