No More Fear
One movie that I enjoyed watching was Big Fish. This is the story of a young man who grew up with a father who was absent much of his life as a door to door salesman. When this father was home, he would tell his son fantastical tales of people that he met and adventures that he had on his journeys and throughout his life. Now, as an adult expecting a child of his own, this young man is trying to sort out the truth.
What I like most is the fearlessness of the father in all of the adventures. All throughout the movie, the father makes statements about taking on anything - even dangerous military missions - because as a child he'd had a vision of how he would die, and this was not it - SO THERE WAS NOTHING TO FEAR. He knew that he would be safe.
He was not afraid of DEATH, and because of this, he was not afraid of LIFE!
This is always the main thing that I think about when this movie comes to mind because this is a concept that can be found throughout scripture.
According to Hebrews 9:27, death is an "appointment."
And Psalm 139:15-16 says:
"When I was made in
the secret place,
when I was woven together
in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed
body;
all the days ordained for
me were written in your book
before one of them came to
be."
The Psalmist reminds us that every single one of the days that we will live are planned out before our lives even start. If we believe this, it alters our perspective of death. What I mean is this: people who do not know that God ordains our life and death out of love for us, live as if they alone are responsible for their own life and death. I have heard it said that this life is the closest thing to heaven that non-Christians will ever get, and the closet to hell that Christians will ever get.
Based on this philosophy, because non-Christians do not believe that there is a loving God waiting for them on the other side of this life in a better place (2 Corinthians 5:8), they must stay alive here on this earth as long as possible. This is why people talk about "dodging" death, are terrified of things that can cause death, and go above and beyond to save lives at all costs. I am seeing a lot of this kind of reaction surrounding this Covid-19 pandemic. We should always live our lives carefully, rather than recklessly, and should attempt to save lives just in case today is not that person's "appointment" with death, but even Christians are forgetting to keep this truth in perspective, and are letting fear rob them of peace.
If you know that you will spend eternity with God, you have nothing to fear! Trust Him with your life, your death, and your future because He has great plans for you (Jeremiah 29:11).
If you do not know what will happen to you when you die, you can.
Jesus said:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am...
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered,
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 14:1-3,5-6
(Contemporary English Version)
And in this Biblical account of actual events, Luke explains the answer in very plain terms: Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. Acts 16:16-18This landed them in prison, but God broke them free, which freaked out the jailor:
God wants YOU to be with Him, too. That is why it is a GIFT.
"God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them! No one who has faith in God's Son will be condemned. But everyone who doesn't have faith in him has already been condemned for not having faith in God's only Son."
John 3:16-18
(Contemporary English Version)
And in this Biblical account of actual events, Luke explains the answer in very plain terms: Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. Acts 16:16-18This landed them in prison, but God broke them free, which freaked out the jailor:
The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
Acts 16:29-34
You can have that same joy and also peace about death right now today!