THE FEAR OF DEATH

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” (John14:1-4 NKJV)

Nothing troubles the heart of man as uncertainty. That is why man’s whole activities are geared towards reducing the precariousness of their lives and future.Whenever we are sure or certain about the outcome of an event or situation, worries leave. The heart is then at peace. We make and pursue plans that can afford us a feeling of certainty about our future. Systems, institutions, cultures have been built and are continually improved upon to meet this need. We go to school seeking the best available, seek the best healthcare facilities, eat healthy, make provisions for security etc., all to increase the level of our certainty and guarantee our future. These are all good but I must draw our attention to the foundation of all uncertainties from which all other uncertainty spring from. An uncertainty most people give the least consideration.

Where will I spend eternity?

The fear of death has been the singular and most powerful driving force behind all human endeavours. We all want to be high up in the rungs of life. Poverty is thought to bring one closer to death than prosperity. Sickness and ill health moves one closer to death than sound health. As much as all these are true, I only seek to draw out the underlying imperceptible principle behind all such struggle and not in any way fault such line of reasoning. After all, we are but human. We see this principle at work even in the much prayers we render these days.The messages we hear from our pulpits are woven on this same fabric - the fear of death.

And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:15 KJV)

Yet “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27 KJV)
That is the irony. With all that the fear of death had put men through in avoiding death, men will always keep their appointment with death. Yea! Good health, prosperity and security consciousness can surely defer this appointment. In the longest run, aging always bring us closer to keeping the appointment. Death has been man’s bitterest pill to swallow but it is one we all must have a taste of.

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Hebrews 2:9 KJV)

“...taste death…” What an expression! When you are asked to taste a delicacy, there is an expectation from you by those around you of what your opinion is about what you have tasted. Death is not the end, there is yet an expectation after death.

Man has focused on avoiding the inevitable rather than pursuing plans that will afford them certainty about their future after the inevitable.

Jesus assured all those who will believe him, a place in his Father’s house. This is certain, so brethren let not your heart be troubled.