Lately I have had people call me to say ‘I’m afraid, I might lose my life!’ and I look up and wonder, ‘is death the worse thing ever?’ Is there really a cause to worry about death? What really is death? Does it matter what happens after death?
Some years ago in England I heard a radio advertisement inviting people to get a Masters Degree in… you don’t want to guess do you? OK! They called it Masters of Arts degree in Death and Immortality. I was like ‘what?’ Who wants to learn about death and the afterlife? Are they trying to teach people how to die or what? “Maybe we will start the course here on earth and finish the rest on the other side” I teased. Ha ha! It sounded strange to me and I wondered how the school would get even one student. But not too long ago it dawned on me that maybe death is not the course of study, maybe it is all about preparing for death, teachings on how to handle death (other people’s obviously) and etc. Maybe we all should take that course; I guess it will help us somehow.
First of all I think, like they say, worse than death itself is the fear of it. Many people spend valuable ‘living’ time worrying about dying. I think that is foolishness of another kind. If we all will die someday, I think there are things we must do rather than worry about dying.
1) Live well/live a meaningful life: If I will not be aware of what happens here on earth when I die, then it is my responsibility to live well and live right so that when I am not here, I would have lived a good life. In my opinion, death is total annihilation from earth. It means you are in extinction. No more in existence on earth. Cut off from friends, family and worldly affairs. I have not been dead before, as you can see, but I have a feeling that dead people don’t feel anything; that is why it is called death- lacking animation. That is deep right there! It means, therefore, that I have to enjoy my life while I have it. Play, laugh, love, dance, smell the roses, make everyone in my world happy and be the best that I can be. Life is too short to hate, frown or be a sadist. Why spend the short life that you have fighting others, destroying, killing and making other people miserable? It is not worth it. If all we got is one life, then live it well so that when you die, I mean, when you are cut off from here, you would have left a footprint in the sands of time and people who live after you will have a blessed memory of you.
2) At peace with God: You will be a fool if you do not believe in the existence of God. You can call it anything you want, (divine being, ultimate reality or whatever), but you do yourself a huge favor to believe in God. Living well and living right ensures that you have the best life here and afterward you experience a life of righteousness, peace and joy. Now that’s heavenly! If you have not made peace with God, do it now. Take a moment and talk to God; He is listening, He wants you back. He wants you to have a home with Him when this life is over. Indeed if in this life alone we have hope…we are of all men most miserable (Cf. 1 Cor. 15:19). Being at peace with men helps you live well here and being at peace with God guarantees you a sweet life when you die
3) Understanding purpose: I thought I should squeeze this in as a bonus, I hope you appreciate it. Everything has its purpose. Everyone on earth has a purpose. If you must live life well and be the best, you must identify your purpose on earth. The best way to know that purpose is by asking God to show you. You see, you can’t avoid Him can you? For more clues, get any of my books “A Date with Destiny” or “Committed to Purpose”.
My point here is, why worry about dying when you can live a fantastic and fruitful life and leave behind a great legacy; and when you are no more here you arrive at a future full of fun- an awesome “hereafter”. If you are alive and wishing you were dead, then that is worse than death. If you are alive and not living a meaningful life, you are already dead, so why fear death?! If you are alive and do not have hope for a better life hereafter, then I should say you have every reason to fear death because after you die here, your misery just began.
“Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning.” John Henry Newman
