Memorial Day – In knowing that we will die, we learn how to live -
John 10.10
John 1:4. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
Jenise said that she is living her life to the fullest because, “You only die twice.” She was talking about a few friends who are scared to ‘live’ and too fearful of failure to experience adventure. Her thought is that one sure cure of being 'scared to live' is to die. If you’ve died and been revived you’ll never live your life the same again!
The Bible has quite a lot to say, actually, about the necessity of dying in order to live. The sixth chapter of Romans is devoted to this subject...when we 'die to self' we 'die to sin' and that constitutes death to fear.
Being bathed in the love of God 'casts out fear.' Being bathed in love gives life. Being full of life brings light to darkness, life to those in despair.
The problem begins with being full of our self. Being self-consumed, self-centered, concentrates our efforts in self-preservation. All of that reinforces our innate fears - all of which are natural, but God hasn't called us to a natural life. He has called us out of our self and into His Image.
We are called into a New Creation...to be creatures of life, abundantly, filled with a vitality that isn't centered on self-preservation but rather on expansion and exploration and infusion.
Those concentrating on self-preservation exhaust their energies and strength with constant guardedness, introspection, inhibition, insecurities, and defensiveness...the stuff of 'fear' and uncertainty. I know lots of folks who are so burdened emotionally with the circumstances of their children and grandchildren that they can't enjoy anything in life.
That, my friends, is not of God. "Casting all your cares on Him because He cares for you..." wasn't qualified with 'but worry constantly about those you love and about what might happen.' That kind of worry and fear is one being self-absorbed in an 'extended autonomy' manifestation. You can't control their life or what happens to them, you are not in charge.
Most Christians need to 'get over themselves' and live. If you can't trust your life and your future to God, you don't trust God. Trusting God involves the essence of the words of an old Gospel song, "Launch out into the deep, let the shoreline go..."
When our daughters were very young, toddlers, in fact, I began teaching them to swim. The biggest difficulty I had was getting their mother to quit asking "how deep is the water." I didn't want the girls to be afraid of the depth of the water of the lake, I wanted them to feel the joy of top two feet of it!
If you can really swim it doesn't matter if the water is 4 feet deep or 154 feet deep. The joy is being on top!! When they were teens, they became scuba certified and began to enjoy diving the ocean reefs down around 100 feet.
My daughters would never have discovered the joy of the deep had they not first discovered the joy of being on top...without fear. Relax, rise to the top and be full of joy! Launch out into life! Nehemiah said that "the Joy of the Lord is your strength." Take joy! Be light! Be full of life! Don't be so concerned with the 'take care' as you are with taking "life, and have it to the full."