For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)
I remember a time when I was afraid of death and…of the rapture. How did I get this way—if I was truly born again? Well, as some of you know from reading my testimony, as a born again believer, I had drifted so far from my walk with God that I wasn’t sure I was even a child of God. I was like the prodigal eating with the pigs and wondering who I was. And the hypocrisy of calling myself a “Christian” but living like the world had kept me paralyzed by anxiety and fear.
I praise God for His mercy and grace in drawing me back into His presence—despite my abject failure and walking away from His presence!
My friend, there is such freedom from fear when we are walking with God. The more we passionately pursue the purpose He has given us as born again believers, the less we dread the power of death. I haven’t arrived—not even close—but I see the exciting difference He is making in my life. The Judgment Seat of Christ used to be something I dreaded, but it’s beginning to seem more like a homecoming I’m beginning to anticipate.
I’m not afraid to live because I’m no longer afraid to die!
And here’s the secret. The more I surrender each area of my life to Christ, the greater my sense of His presence becomes, and the more I gain His perspective. It’s a game changer—because then I begin to see each obstacle as an opportunity.
Everything we do today will be weighed. God gives us the opportunity to make it count for eternity:
For we must ALL appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)
This verse should give us hope and anticipation! This is God’s invitation to rejoice, not fear. Paul told the Thessalonians what actually brings joy on that great day.
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For YOU are our glory and joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20)
The people we help bring into relationship with Christ are jewels in a crown, set by the very grace of God working through us. This promise of God takes my breath away every time I read it!
Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:3)
We don’t have to live in fear of death because God invites us to be part of His glorious plan to save souls.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise. (Proverbs 11:30)
Every one of our works will be tested like gold, silver, and precious stones being refined by fire, while other works—the wood, hay, and stubble kind—will simply burn away and leave nothing behind.
Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. (1 Corinthians 3:12-13)
The opportunity to do eternal things has become one of the greatest motivations in my own life right now. If you have been born again, you, too, have been put on the greatest team on earth! Don’t you want your days here to count toward something that lasts forever? One day, our bodies will die and cease to be able to communicate with this world, but what we sow into the lives of others will be growing long after we’re gone. Jesus said:
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. (John 12:24)
A grain of wheat has to die to become something more than itself. This is a pattern for how we’re meant to live now—planting our lives into the ground of other people, trusting that what looks like loss down here produces a harvest we won’t fully see until we’re with Jesus. We give like God gives and He lives through us:
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
And when death finally comes, it is not a tragedy—it will be glorious!
We are confident, yes, well pleased because to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8)
I don’t want to miss a single investment opportunity because of fear of anything—especially not death—do you?
I’ve often chosen to live comfortably rather than risk dying courageously.
Fear of death doesn’t just threaten our future; it rewrites our past into something safer than it actually was and makes us willing to trade the inheritance in front of us for the illusion of security behind us. The fear of anything less than God is a fear that is an illusion. Caleb and Joshua saw the exact same giants everyone else saw. The difference wasn’t their eyesight; it was their perception of God’s presence. Despite the giants in the Promised Land, they believed:
If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, “a land which flows with milk and honey.” Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them. (Numbers 14:8-9)
Everyone else from their generation died wandering in the wilderness and didn’t enter the Promised Land. Why? Not because God’s promise wasn’t real or because the land wasn’t good. It’s because they lost God’s perspective. Every opportunity in front of us today is a Promised Land moment. I don’t want to be the one who runs from the great blessings of God because I let a giant scare God’s promises out of me—do you?
Prayer:
Lord, thank You that death has lost its sting for me because of what Christ did on the cross. Teach me to invest my days in the souls You’ve placed in my path, to disciple with patience, and to share the Gospel with courage. Help me to stop burying what You’ve entrusted to me and start working with everything I have, believing that the harvest is real and that You are faithful to bring it in Your perfect timing. When my body finally gives out, let me stand before You unafraid, having lived fully alive to the purpose You gave me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
