“We Are Appointed Once to Die” (Hebrews 9:27)

If it is so absolute, why not absolutely change our thinking?

Studies show that thoughts about death are the most distressing to many people. Fear is the usual response. Then there is anger, confusion, questions, etc. Guilt is also a big response if we haven’t lived life as well as we should have, and if we have regrets about things we’ve done.

In a few messages I’ll share some thoughts about death from a gospel perspective that you may not have considered before. The gospel is ‘the power of God’ (Rom 1:16). As such, it gives us power in everything we do. Paul says it ‘establishes us’ in everything. This means it also establishes us and helps us in dealing with death.

Cartoons and comics often picture people who have died as having wings, wearing nightgowns, playing harps and sitting on clouds. So in some ways they try to relieve us of having stress about dying. Of course this is all man-contrived nonsense, but the humor of it does relieve us to some degree.

I prefer to think of myself soaring through the heavens! After all, our thoughts either help us or hurt us. So why not use helpful thoughts? And the Gospel says we will have glorious bodies like Jesus. He walked through walls and soared right up into heaven.

My thought is that if death is common to every last single one of us on planet earth, why shouldn’t we change our thoughts about it to something more empowering? Why should they just be negative, doom and gloom?

If we all have a date with the undertaker, why not tell them to give us a smile, not a frown?

We all have thoughts about death, and for most of our lives we try to bury them. But the problem is we bury them alive, not dead, so the just rise from the dead to haunt us.

The gospel gives us a much more reliable way to deal with our death!

Hebrews says that one reason Jesus came was to remove any fear or stress about death. Jesus says he will accept anyone who comes to him and will not turn them away. Anyone means anyone.

It is said, “We can’t consistently act, on the outside, different from what we think and believe on the inside.” The gospel was given to us to renew our minds and to transform our thoughts (Rom 12:2). When we allow it to do this, it has an amazing positive impact on us. We suddenly start thinking God’s thoughts, not just our own thoughts (Isa 55:8–9).

God can transform negative thoughts about death to a series of positive thoughts! I’ve even gone so far as to think of death as:

‘The Ultimate Life Experience.’

Ask yourself: why not? If we are going to die anyway, why not have the most powerful thoughts, attitudes and beliefs possible that will make life better?

We try to do it with everything else, so why not also with death?

Some of the things I will share in a few messages will help give a better perspective on death that you’ve never had before. And if not for you, how about for someone you know who is close to dying? Most of us know someone!

I’ve also written a flip-page E-book on the subject of death that I’ll give away a little later in these messages. I think you’ll find some of the thoughts in these messages and in the E-book to be synergistic in nature when they merge into the subject of death and leaving this world.