Benjamin Franklin famously said nothing, except death and taxes, can be certain. Anything hardly stirs up dread in men than the former, yet it is indeed inevitable. It is man’s final act and life’s most reoccurring reality, with over 60 million people dying every year. It occurs so endlessly that men have somehow grown numb to its reality. Most people, even if they know they will inevitably die, would rather not even think about death. The very thought of it brings them much anxiety. It’s how come fear spreads much quicker whenever there’s the slightest hint that a catastrophe could be global, as it was for Covid.
Death: Not the Original Plan
Why would many rather avoid the whole subject of death? Well, simply because death is a product of the Fall. It wasn’t part of the created order. At the onset of creation, man was made immortal to live eternally to the glory of God. Man was created out of the earth, never to return to it (Genesis 2:7). However, man rebelled against God by regarding equality with him as a thing to be grasped (Genesis 3:1-7, Philippians 2:6). As a result, the earth, where man was never supposed to return to, welcomed him back (Genesis 3:19). This is why death, however natural, is feared. It just was never meant to be.
The Rise of the Fear of Death
Things seem to have only gotten worse, as the fear of death has risen by manifold degrees over the centuries. It hasn’t mattered that we live in the most scientifically advanced age of all civilizations, blessed with medicines and technologies that can cure nearly every illness or at least prevent them. We’re actually more afraid of death than even the generations that saw countless women die during childbirth and innumerable men die in battle. You’d imagine we’d be less fearful given our relative safety, but the reverse is, in fact, true.
The reason must be linked to our society’s lack of a God-centered worldview. We’ve increasingly been told there is no God (Psalm 14:1), stripping life of meaning and infusing a greater dread of death. If life has no meaning beyond our earthly days, the thought of what awaits after death is unwelcome. The Bible, however, teaches us that by living for something infinitely higher than ourselves (Isaiah 55:7-10), we can be joyful even in death.
Let Your Death Be Meaningful
If we want our deaths to be meaningful, the way to do so isn’t by “being the best you that you can be”, as the culture pervasively teaches. Instead, as Paul puts it in Philippians 1:21-26, it is by being the ‘best you’ that God has called you to be. For our deaths to be gain, we are to seek a return to the pre-death attitude, which is to find purpose in the reason for which we were created, namely, to live for the glory of God eternally (Corinthians 10:31). It doesn’t mean death won’t be scary. It just won’t rob us of our joy and peace because we know that our labour in the LORD was not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:54-58).
As Paul puts it, it leads to a weight of glory beyond all else (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). For that to be the case, though, Christ has to be the reason for our being (Philippians 1:21). As Christians, we must understand that our dying will only harbour meaning if our lives are founded and rooted in Christ. It isn’t just the building that is Christ but its foundations (Ephesians 2:19-22). This means Christ isn’t just your number one; he must be Lord over all things. As long as Christ isn’t at the centre of your life, then your death will be meaningless. Essentially, you will have no peace in death. For the man rooted in Christ, death isn’t an end but the beginning of his journey. His life was the prologue to get there. What death does is relieve us of earthly burdens so that our sole focus will be to live for God’s glory eternally. In short, death doesn’t sever our union with Christ. It only solidifies our union with him, as we will be with him forever.
Seek To Be Christ-like
If we want to end up with Christ forever, we must seek to do his will. This should stem from a desire to be like him. We are to understand, just like Paul did, that the reason we exist isn’t to serve our own ambitions. At the core of it, our greatest joy should spring from the fact that our names are recorded in heaven (Luke 10:20). Also, we must seek to make that joy known to the rest of the world, all to the glory of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). As we number our days, we should do so, not to congratulate ourselves, but to present to the LORD a heart of wisdom (Psalm 39:4; 90:12). In all that we do, it has to be for the LORD’s glory and to make him known. That is the kind of wisdom we should have. A wisdom that is pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruit, unwavering and without hypocrisy (James 3:17).
In Paul’s case, he had two options, each pleasing to the Lord: either going to be with Christ forever or, for the sake of the church, to remain with them. Above all, Paul knew that death was an infinitely better option for him as it would mean him getting to be with Christ forever. However, Paul, showing his Christ-likeness, found it more necessary to remain with the brethren for their sake. This scenario proves that Paul had become so self-forgetful that he only sought to stay for the good of others so that their joy in Christ may be full (John 15:11).
He wanted to be freed from prison, as Philippians 1:19 reads, so that he may proclaim and teach others concerning Christ. His concern wasn’t for himself but for others and for Christ’s glory to be manifest in them. Christ had a similar attitude. Even though he was God, he chose to wash his disciples’ feet. He could have remained in heaven, but he willingly chose to lower himself by taking the form of man (Philippians 2:5-11). Being God, Christ could have found other ways to save man from death. However, he chose to die because his one sacrifice would account for all the sins of the world (1 John 2:2). Like Paul, we should seek to emulate this Christ-like attitude. We should be willing to forsake, for now, being in a complete, conscious, intimate, unhindered fellowship with our Lord (which. would be the best thing), aiming to build his church. While at it, we should trust God to accomplish his will until he chooses to render us mortal.
Seek Other’s Good for God’s Glory
Even in staying, Paul was confident that the Lord had more work for Him to do among the Philippians. He desired to see them progress in their faith. Not only that, but he also wanted their joy in the Lord to be complete, even as they grew in faith.
In numerous places, we see that Paul’s desire was Christ’s glory, not his own. The confidence that the Philippians had in Paul compelled them to send Epaphroditus over 1000km with provisions for him. They were certain Christ was at work in Paul and not because of anything he had done. Here, Paul teaches us how to live if our death is to be gain (Philippians 1:21). Our reasons for either living or dying should be based on the supremacy of Christ. If we seek to live, we are to do so to the glory of God so that Christ’s joy may be made full in others and, inadvertently, in our own hearts. When this way of life becomes deeply entrenched in us, we will be certain to gain the Christ we long for when death comes knocking.
