Watching La Vie En Rose, one
can not help but think on what this life is for, death and the like.
Myself, I don't require much coaxing; as a writer with a sometimes
overwhelming imagination, I never really got over Final
Destination.
Depending
on how much of a rat's tucchus you
care about statistics, something like 68% of people fear death. It
makes sense we don't want to talk about it. I even heard a recent NPR
story where there were groups starting around the country (and world)
for that very reason: to air out the difficult topic, to put words to
the great fear, which can seem like it's all around us.
Ever
Consider This?
- You're feeling abnormally confident in your ability to manipulate water, so you jump off the diving board, and into the deep end of the pool/lake/ocean...and drown.
- You're driving your car speedily on the highway, when a semi somehow cuts you off, perhaps it's carrying bricks, or logs, or cars, but somehow one gets loose and...you're smashed in seconds.
- Maybe you're waiting for some ne'er-do-well to slit your throat while napping in your sedan
- Maybe the ne'er-do-well just stabs, and/or shoots you on the street for money, perhaps to feed a drug habit...
This
could go on for hours, until you work yourself into an amazing frenzy
and anxiety. Let me ask; do the above frighten you? Are you unable to
read any longer?
Folks
hate to talk about death, like it's not coming, like it's not
inevitable, but to avoid it is to fear it. And I do sometimes, more
so lately, though this is all do to wrong thinking.
If the
possibility of becoming a cadaver scares you, that's it, you're
thinking of becoming some neglected cadaver with worms eating you.
Wrong. That would be the same thing as imagining yourself like a
snoring, drooling, rambunctious mess while you're asleep, which is
what death is in light of Christ.
Acts
13:36: “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his
own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers”
Jesus
used the same terminology. In John 11:11 he says, “Our friend
Lazarus has fallen asleep...”
Sleep.
The thing we each do every night, most more than I. Sleep, the
definition of which is to enter a state of unconsciousness without
being aware.
None
of us actually start sleep, we simply stop impeding it, and allow the
process to take place. Our hope is that our tired bodies will do what
is best for them: to rest for a better life tomorrow. This is what
Jesus desires to do for each and every single one of us: grant us
rest.
"Come
to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew
11:28
Now,
it'd be stupid to argue that what Jesus wants is for you to die,
that's just bad theology, since he talks a great deal about giving
life...But in the end of our run, I believe he no longer desires us
to struggle, and he wishes to grant our over-worked bodies rest.
That's
all death can ever be for the Christian: sleep, and a sweet sleep at
that.
Of
course, we can argue there's more: crowns, and thrones, and mansions,
and a beautiful New City called Jerusalem (and I'm right there with
you), but isn't complete rest what we really long for?
I'm
starting to think it sweet: that all those days being terrorized by
an alarm clock can be replaced with an easy, delicate rest
uninterrupted.
What
do you think?
