Staring Down Death

Thoughts From Daily Readings from the Live Like You Are Dying Series ...

"Death is the most inevitable event that we are least prepared for.  There is great irony in this in that there is, for each of us, a hundred percent chance of dying and a next to a hundred percent chance we aren't anywhere near ready for it.  Our whole culture is in a state of denial when it comes to death.

Our elderly family members die in nursing homes sometimes far removed from the families they nurtured and that nurtured them.  We are often not even there when they breathe their last.  And the main goal of the funeral home is to shield the family members as much as possible from the reality of what just happened.

But we are embarking on a 30-day journey to change all that.

The Bible clearnly states that we all have an appointment with death -- "It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27 NASB).  But instead of running from that appointment, as so much in our culture encourages us to do, we are going to run right for it.  We are going to fearlessly stare down death to ride right up to the precipice and let the winds from the valley of death blow back over our lives and stir us to something new.

This study has one goal:  Change.  We want you to discover that one thing that will alter the course of your life that you wouldn't find any other way unless you lived like you were dying.

This will take courage, but we have help in this:  "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me" (Psalm 23:4).

We have company.

You see this is no way we could have the nerve to face death - even hypothetically - if we didn't know that the Son of God has already stared down death and won.  He's been there and back, and he is going to lead us right up to it, through it, and on to the other side.  So what do we have to fear?

We are going to assume that we only have thirty days to live, and reevaluate our values, priorities and dreams in light of that.  How would this knowledge change the way you look at things?  What might you be emboldened to do that you have never done before?  What would become important, and what would suddenly not matter at all?  We want to invite you to explore these questions with us on this 30-day journey.

This experience will have different results for each person.

Somone might take that trip they've wanted to take for a long time.  Another might learn to paint.  Someone might discover the words "I love you" roll more easily off their lips.  Someone might reunite a broken relationship through the gift of forgiveness.  Others might talk more freely about Jesus.  It's unpredictable what exactly might happen because we're all different and we will all interpret the message in a different way, but that's the beauty of it.  It will be your way ... how God inspires you.  What happens in the next thirty days will be entirely up to you.  Are you ready to live like you were dying?" (Live Like You Are Dying Daily Reading - week 1 day 1)

What would happen if each of us put the following into action?  What changes would we make in our lives?  Read this aloud and ask God to help you make this happen. 

I am willing to do what God wants me to do to act on the insights I receive in the next thirty day, not just think about them.  I am willing to take risks I might not normally take unless I knew I was dying soon.  I am willing to stare down death and grab a hold of my life.