It's ok to die

 Yep, it is. It is ok to die. 

 

I have to say, as I walk across America, I have noticed that people are scared. Or weak even.The fear of failing .... Won't risk anything for fear of losing there life's ...

Powerful,courageous and fearless is not how I would describe people.

 

Risk is a part our lives. We can't avoid it. Here is an example of how fear controls people. How people try to protect themselves from any kind of danger or risk. They are trying to live as long as they can I guess.  They made a TV show out of it. It’s called Doomsday Preppers. Their whole life-goal is literally to protect themselves from any danger whatsoever. Economic collapse of our nation, zombie attack, world war breaking out. They build a bunker in the ground, pack it full of food and other supplies and put a bomb-proof door on the front of it. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID. Number 1, who wants to live like that? Number 2, let’s say they make it through the apocalypse, you want to live in the bunker for the rest of your life, you want to die in a bunker?  Number 3, kill me off... Heaven is way cooler than a hole!!!

 

Security is a myth, a mirage; it's sucking all of us in to fake reality.  Lets say you are in that bunker and you have a heart attack, you have a stroke. You’re gone. You dead. No bomb-proof door can protect you from that. Security doesn’t exist. Every way you turn there are unknowns and risks.  Think about it. We never really know where the next shot will come from.  In the one and only episode of “Doomsday Preppers” that I watched, the guy shot his own hand. He shot one of his little fingers. I mean, come on. The thing about it was, he was preparing for the apocalypse and talking about gun safety. The very things that were there to protect him could have killed him. In fact, he was teaching his son where to shoot for kill shots and about gun safety. The irony of it is your own stupidity could be the very thing that kills you in the end.HAha. Bunkers don’t protect against stupid. 

 

In fact, not to risk and to hide and try and protect yourself from every little thing is awaste of your life.  Please understand I'm not saying don’t wear your seatbelt (but I never wear my seatbelt. I hate seatbelts. Hate hate HATE them.). I’m not saying to not wear a helmet when you’re riding your bike. I'm not saying don’t lock your doors at night or never wash your hands.. Haha but what I am saying is self preservation is not the goal of Christian life. In fact, it is the exact opposite. It is costly love; it puts us at risk.

 

You’ve heard the risks in foster care. We still need to do it... There are about 400,000 children in foster care. And about 224,457,000 "Christians" in America ... There are so many more professed Christians than there are foster kids. As believers, shouldn’t this be something we can take care of? No kids in foster care!

 

Or how about the 20,000 people a year that need bone marrow transplants. 224, 457, 000 Christians in the USA ... BAM! We got this! LET’S DO HARD THINGS!!

 

We have 2 choices. We can waste our lives on trying to create security for ourselves. Again, that is fake, it’s not real. Or do hard things; risking it all. Sadly, I think most everyone will choose to waste their lives. The reality is that a Christian life is a call to put it all on the line. Gamble with your life!  Check out this verse:

“You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers  and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death” — Matthew 21:16  

 

Some of you will be put to death!

Yep, it's in the cards for some of us. And it's ok.  It's clear we are not to be sure whether we will live or die. Not all of us will die, but it's clear that not all of us will live. Here in America, it's hard to find ways to risk our lives for Jesus. We won't be killed for what we believe; we won't be martyrs that lose our lives. We may lose our jobs or lose respect, be marginalized or even mocked and rejected, but that's about it... It seems so silly to be afraid of those things when we will clearly will be alive afterward. The pain of being tortured is not there (I’m so afraid to be tortured). 

The imagery that I think of is the movie 300. You don’t see any weak or scared men in Sparta. You know what I’m say, they are all badasses. Not afraid to die. Not afraid to risk it, to put it all on the line for what they believe in.

 

Ya know, to me, I feel like churches are more like the shire with happy hobbits sitting around and less like 300 with warriors going into battle.  I think it's cause we are so afraid to die. Self preservation is the name of the game. 

I read this book. The heavenly man. It’s about a guy who was in jail form 1983-2001. He was tortured, starved, and should’ve died multiple times. Never once did he deny Christ, and he always risked being tortured to proclaim the gospel. He led many people to Jesus and it always cost him something. It brought him closer to God and he was able to experience God in new and incredible ways. After I finished that book, I started another book by Mark Driscoll, called“Who Do You Think You Are?: How to Find Your Identity in Christ”. I couldn’t even get 2chapters into it. It was crazy that with all the incredible needs in America and around the world, one of the biggest pastors in America was having a spiritual therapy session on our identity in Christ. It’s a struggle for me to not want to like slap the people who are reading this book. It’s also a struggle to not want to be passive and say only good things to my brothers in Christ. I don’t want to put down the book, however, if you are struggling with your faith, grab your Bible and go serve. Got problems in your marriage? Grab your Bible together, and go serve, together. What I’m not saying is you should go lead a bunch of people to Christ and go preach. I’m saying put that down, and go serve; not at a church.  I’m not saying serving will fix it, I’m saying Hard Things +Jesus=Finding your identity. 

Ok I'm getting off topic a bit. Here's my point. I will make it as clear as I can.

SELF PRESERVATION kills your faith.

It's ok to die. 

Or another way

The goal of fear is to kill your faith.