Hey There,
I was at the gym yesterday and after working out went into the sauna. I have found, for whatever reason, being half-naked and sweating makes people open up a lot more. More often than not I end up having great conversations with people in the sauna. It’s strange, but kind of expected in a way.
I looked over to the only other guy in there. He was wearing a sweatshirt, like a boss. I asked him, “What are you afraid of.” He sat for a moment, a few drops of sweat slipped off his nose (I wasn’t looking that close, so I’m embellishing a little bit here) and said, “I’m afraid of death.”
You know, COVID, Nukes, and all these other existential things that we are told about by our culture all have the common factor of death involved. In scriptures it says:
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
I don’t think I gave the guy the proper response. I gave him a rational response, not a truly loving one. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I explored what death and eternity were and then discussed the Trinity. It was still all so rational. This is not the way. I did not show him love and help cast out his fear.
Living purely rationally is to live in fear. Relying solely on yourself to figure things out yourself, even when you ask God for insight, you are still basically trying to tell him to help you do His job. You are falling into the same trap from the garden, except just asking God to give you the apple of knowledge instead of grabbing it yourself. I don’t think this is Faith based living.
When we choose to live with Pride and judgment, as I often do, we are choosing to be (spiritually) alone and are ourselves living in fear. When we fear what we don’t understand, we lack Faith and Love.
Death, true death, is to live without God. These things discussed may be sins bad enough to eternally separate me from God. I still need to get this moved from my head into my heart, repent, and come into true relationship with the God of the universe. This is possible through Jesus Christ as he is the door to Life and Love.
I don’t understand how this works, but need to have Faith enough to believe it and turn the handle.
True love casteth out all fear.
This is the way.
Sincerely,
Jared
P.S. How would yall have had the conversation do you think? How would you have answered someone if they said, “I am afraid of death.”? Leave a comment below.
P.P.S. A great movie about the subject is, “Meet Joe Black”.
P.P.P.S. The music I listened to while writing this:
