Why Are Christians Afraid Of Dying?

I don't get it ! As Christians why are we afraid to die? Don't take the statement the wrong way, not that Christians should want to die, but dying shouldn’t hold the same terror for Christians as it does for people who don’t know Christ. I know it's easy to say when it’s not you in the hospital bed. Fear of death is natural. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It doesn’t mean you lack faith or that God has somehow abandoned you.

For the last week I’ve been forced to the bed. The pain so bad that at times I was wishing for death. I had flu like symptoms which cause my whole body to ache in a horrible way. Every time I move it hurt. I visited the doctor twice and had every test known to man ran. Any way every thing came back good. Why I was lying around thinking I decided that I’m not really afraid of death so much as I’m afraid of dying.

I am thinking an immediate death has a certain dignity to it that a long, drawn-out battle with disease inevitably robs you of, as you become increasingly helpless and tortured by pain. The fact of the matter is, these bodies we inhabit are merely flesh and bone. They are only for a certain time and, I promise you that one day they will break down and they are going to let us down. But now that I’m getting older and stuff is starting to break down. It forces me to realize that the end is much closer.

Some pastors like to scare folks with talk about death. Accept Jesus because death is inevitable. You’re going to die, be sure you die in Christ. I think we might all do a bit better to realize death is only the final stage of dying, which is, itself, a vital part of living. From the moment we are born, we, all of us, are dying. Our bodies grow and flower and decay and break down. It’s inevitable.

Knowing Christ when you die is a vital, inescapable imperative. But having a relationship with Christ while you are living, while you are healthy, while you can walk and talk and dance and sing—that’s just as important. Many people think of Jesus as the last ring of the bell before lights out. Letting Him in does, indeed, save you from a lost eternity.

But knowing Him, actually having a relationship with Him, may be the only comfort many of us have while we are dying. While we are transitioning from birth to life, from childhood to adolescence, from adolescence to adulthood, from adulthood to maturity, from maturity to middle age, from middle age to senior citizen, from senior citizen to Marvel Of The Age—at every stage of life, knowing Christ, serving Him, is the most rewarding and fulfilling experience any of us can have. And when that time of final transition comes, whether it’s by accident , or the long good-bye of suffering and disease, our comfort, our hope, is in that relationship—not just the quick fix of a last minute repentance but a life spent knowing, serving, loving and having been loved by God—that reassures us that, despite the seeming unfairness of life’s final curtain, there is logic, reason, and hope in the plan of our Father.

Question: Are You Afraid To Die?