No fear in death - Midweek Muse

Last Friday Sir Paul Holmes past away after battling cancer. I don’t know if you saw the interview with him on “Sunday” the week before, but I was moved by it. As I watched it I think my heart broke a little.  By the end, I was in tears ... actual running down my face tears. Not because he was dying (which is, without a doubt, sad), but because he was afraid of dying.  During the interview he reflected on the special women in his life, regrets, family, work and God.

When asked if he was afraid he replied:

“Yeah I am, I get a bit scared. The scariest thing is going to bed, closing your eyes and not knowing if your going to wake up in the morning, that’s my scariest thing”

His response to whether he had a sense of peace was:

“Im a bit frightened and I plan to increase my peace with God … I’m worried what’s over the hill… I wonder what there is … I hope the lord decides I’m on the right side of the ledger is all … I will give my life now to some contemplation and pray for Gods mercy”

What struck me most was his fear of death. For a time I felt paralysed to the couch as I considered that sooo many people have this same fear. This uncertainty. This hopelessness.

What I realised was that I have no such fear. I have no doubt that the day my body dies on this earth I will find myself with my Creator, Father, Savior and Friend in a place too glorious to imagine.

Yet Paul Holmes represents one of many, who fear death. This breaks me. Sometimes we pray to God in song: “Break my heart for what breaks yours” yet our hearts are hardened to the fear that others face. We don’t care. We lack compassion and empathy. We are content with our eternity, and our compassion and mercy for others and their eternity dissipates.

As the interview progressed, the line from the song “In Christ Alone” came to mind: “No guilt in life, No fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.”

 There are people who fear death, there are people living without a glimmer of hope … that should be enough to stir us, to motivate us to action, to move from our state of comfort to a place of compassion and courage. That should cause us to speak up about the incredible hope we have in Christ which is available to all.

 ^“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.” Titus 3:4-8

Christ came and saved us from death, he conquered it, and when we are in Him death has no hold on us! Our hope is in him and hope is our anchor. It’s a hope worth sharing!

 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Heb 10:23

Itsy Bitsy thoughts from SamMe