Jack Gutknecht

I agree with S. Michael Houdmann:
" Fear of the ACT [emphasis mine] of dying
Few of us know how we will die. Quick and painless, in our sleep, a long, drawn-out illness-the mystery of it, the inability to prepare, can be frightening. If we do know, if we've been diagnosed with a terminal illness, it can still be scary." I would add that for some of us, the process of dying is terrifying, and I even fear at times, imagining the worst way of dying. Even the super-saints fear once in a while: King David said, "Terrors of death assail me" (Psalm 55:4). And the disciples dreaded the ACT of drowning when they cried out to the Lord, "Save us! We're doing to DROWN!" (Matthew 8:25).

For others what occurs AFTER death is scary. It is “the last ENEMY,” making people quake with fear. However, when David’s time came to die, he acknowledged his assurance of the afterlife by “speaking of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay” (Acts 2:31). The disciples changed too from cringing on the Sea of Galilee for fearing of drowning to going everywhere proclaiming that “the last ENEMY” would be swallowed up in victory because of Christ’s resurrection. Let us do the same!

November 13 2018 • Report