As a Christian, there is a certain aspect of life in which we believe there should be no fear in death, since through death we would be freed from the constraints of this broken world and eventually get to Heaven. There is common belief amongst everyone, through phrases such as “They’re in a better place now” when someone we love passes on, that they are already in another place. This is not true, for they are simply resting (1 Cor. 15:20-24, Rev 20:5 ??). There are better Bible references for this, I just can’t find them at the moment, but my understanding and belief is that when you die you are simply resting, or sleeping. However, when your physical body dies, your soul no longer remains constrained by our understanding of time. In theory you could be dead for centuries but in your “slumber” have only felt it to be a minuscule amount of time.
This post is not going to talk about the aspect of death, and whether someone who is saved through Christ automatically enters Heaven upon death.
This post is touching upon the question “Are you ready to die?” To several adult Christians, those who have borderline adult children (ie. in post-secondary studies or graduated and working now) and are fine with their finances, they may reply “Yes, I’m ready”. But are they? As Christians, we have the Great Commission to essentially “go forth and make disciples of every nation, preaching the Good News” (Matt 28:16-20, Mark 16:14-18, Luke 24:44-49). With this being said, that our role in life is to fulfill the Great Commission, theoretically we should not be satisfied with our lives to the point of being ready to die, if the entire world has not been told/shown/exemplified God’s Word and believe in Christ’s sacrifice made for all.
Being free in Christ from our sin, and our knowledge that we will reach the presence of our Father, brings peace to our hearts as Christians to accept our freedom from this world through death, but by no means should we say “I am ready to die” when we still have friends, family and strangers that have not heard, or accepted, the Gospel yet (ie. The Great Commissioned is incomplete).
But what about those that have had their hearts hardened, their ears shut, their eyes closed, to the gospel? Although we as Christians are commanded to evangelise, in the end it is tribune God which speaks to the heart of those we evangelise to. It is in His time which they understand their redemption through Christ, and not by our HUMAN means. We must remember that it is not us as humans which makes one believe, but it is God which stirs the heart.
There are so many things you have not done yet for this world and your God, to be ready to die.
“Grey Christianity” is a mini-series of commentaries and questions devoted to tackling some of the issues which come to my mind as a Christian. I take no authority whatsoever over what I say, and hope there aren’t misquotes of scripture, in the rare occurrences I actually quote scripture.
These posts are meant as discussion of these issues, not as avenues for people to smash Christianity. Do not waste our time if you plan to troll.