Death By Living

I wish grandpas never died. Those are the lyrics that I heard from a song, the only lyrics I remembered. They stuck. Because thoughts began. Ideas became. The fear of a lot of people today is the fear of dying or others dying. I think that fear mainly comes from not knowing what comes after, what becomes of us after we die, or the thought of people leaving us when they die. We don't like being out of control, out of the know, or alone. I thought well... What if grandpas never did die? I took it even further and wondered well... What if we all never died? To most people the thought of never dying seems incredible, it seems so desirable, in fact, maybe even irresistible. We would be immortal, seemingly invincible. How awesome does that sound right?? Yet, if we never died, living wouldn't be as valuable. If we never died, life wouldn't be meaningful. If we never died, followers of Jesus Christ could never see Him face to face. If death wasn't a thing... God wouldn't be able to reveal His power, and His mercy. Death wasn't God's idea for us, we chose death, sin made death. Life is a gift from Him, every breath we breathe, we should be thankful. Sin created a chasm between us and God. And when we are away from God we are everything God isn't. Apart from God, we are sinful, unrighteous, left with no hope, and most of all we are dead, even if physically we are alive. If He is Life, without Him, we have NO life. But most people see/define life as living the way you want to, doing all you want, "you only live once" type of lifestyle. But rather life is defined as being able to use energy, reproduce, grow, and change. And we are also told that Jesus is Life. The way. The truth. And the life. And if God gives life, we wouldn't be able to live without Him at all, we would be dead, in fact we would actually be nothing. Lifeless. Never alive. This world takes for granted the most gruesome, powerful, life giving death there is. They use it as an excuse to sin, but really it should only give us less excuses to sin. The cross wasn't meant to excuse sin. The cross was meant to save the sinners. The cross was meant to convict, which would lead to repentance, which would lead to forgiveness. It was God's justice and mercy at a perfect balance. Losing my Nana and Uncle were two of the hardest things I've ever gone through, I still can't tell you why they passed so "early." What I can tell you is that early to me or late to me is actually right on time for God. And I take rest in that. I miss them, but everyones time is going to come. We cannot truly live unless we die. You may be questioning me and asking if I know what I'm saying. Yes, I do. Here's what I mean,

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11

Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23 (To deny themselves also means to give up or sacrifice themselves)

Dead to sin, dead to self, alive in Christ. We are a dead people unless we have Christ. Sin and self is killing us, we are being suffocated by our own breath, and we don't even know it. So many people in the world are consumed by sin and self, because that's what the world tells us will satisfy. Until we begin to receive more of Him and less of self, we will continue to suffocate, slowly, but surely. I understand why people say I wish grandpas never died or I wish people never died, completely get it, but I think too often we forget what that would mean.