Friday, November 4, 2011

Preparing for Death

This topic has been coming up a lot lately, especially with my twelve year old. I'm not sure why it keeps popping up in different circumstances, but it does.

We have been studying Ephesians 6: 10-20, the passage about the armor of God.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,  and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.  Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

When we got to the part about our "feet being fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace," we talked about what it means to be ready. First, we discussed being ready to tell others about Jesus. Then, we realized that there was more to it than that. This passage was written to people who were being persecuted and might face martyrdom at any time. They needed to be ready for death.

We also attended a funeral this week. The friend who died was a Christian, a pastor and only 50 years old. The man who gave the message spoke of how Charlie was ready for death and how he would want us to all be ready, too, by knowing Jesus and being hopeful of Heaven. That lead to converstation in the car on the same topic.

There have been other instances when are talk went to this subject. My son hasn't been fearful or morbid in these conversations. He seems to take them in his stride and just be looking for information. He has seen death this year, as his beloved grandmother passed away from cancer. He also was seriously ill himself at one point though (thankfully!!!) he is fine now. My son also knows Jesus. I suppose we are just in a season in which this topic is on his mind and mine.


Are you prepared for death?

2 comments:

  1. good topic to discuss with your son. When my great-grandma died, I was fourteen and traumatized by the open coffin. Nobody talked to me about it either - which I realize was partly my fault as I didn't tell my parents I was afraid. I have found Jesus since and I now know that death is nothing to fear. We'll just be going home, back to where we came from. :)

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  2. I was at a memorial service today, and it was really brought out how Heaven is our home and my friend is there.

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