on death and dying

Death is our last act here on earth, dying on the other hand is something we must do daily.

"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." - Romans 8:36 referencing Psalm 44:22

The physical act of dying is something that scares us and yet is totally unpredictable. I remember as a child being fascinated with death and asking my mom a lot what would happen after I died. Death is just a natural part of life. We come and go, and what we leave behind us are mostly memories.

The spiritual act of dying is a constant battle. The victory is already won, Jesus Christ has paid the price and defeated death. But while we're still alive on this earth we are constantly waging war against ourselves. The devil really doesn't have to do much because he has no real power over us who have been saved. But the parts of ourselves that need to be worked out by "fear and trembling" are what's holding us back from living in the full revelation as sons of God.

"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." - Philippians 2:12-13

What should we fear? Homelessness? Starvation? Nakedness? Hasn't God already told us not to worry about those things?

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" - Matthew 6:25-27

So why am I still so damn concerned with my own well being? I still can't figure out if it's my genetics or the way God made me, but I seem to think that my life is a constant struggle. There are those moments of peace, but everything in between seems to be an uphill battle. My wife does a good job of helping me realize that we have it pretty good compared to other people in this world, and for that I'm thankful. But it still doesn't completely put to rest the uneasy burden I carry with me.

My pastor and I met for breakfast a few weeks ago and he shared with me something that he prayed for that he had never prayed before. He asked The Lord to receive his "flesh" upon the alter. (I know that sounds kind of odd, but I think it's completely necessary.) Our flesh is what we are constantly doing battle with. The old way of doing things. It's why I believe Paul told us to put on the full armor of God. By reading the word of God and praying and being baptized in the Holy Spirit, it's the only way I'll ever feel secure. The more that I choose to follow Christ the more my flesh will wither away.

Baptized Into Death

Please vote for my design on RedIsWhite.com.

A Little Background

Chris Wallace and I had been talking about doing a t-shirt design competition, and how fun it would be to stir up some trash talking. Originally we planned on having a week to get our designs ready, but we ended up only having a few days.

The rules were simple, design a t-shirt based around a verse out of the book of Romans. Any verse we wanted. Next was to upload the design to RedisWhite.com and give the people a week to vote. At the end of the week whoever claims the victory will have their shirt printed and sold on RiW, as well as the chance to place something on the losers site for a month.

Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" - Romans 6:3

This verse stood out amongst all the rest because of the visual appeal it has. The cryptic way it defines our new life in Christ as death. It's saying that while we were alive (in our flesh) when we come to Jesus Christ we must die and then God will raise us back up again. Just look at the next two verses:

"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection." - Romans 6:4-5

I wanted to design the truth, not the obvious, so by placing the skull on the left it represents our flesh (death) and the face on the right represents the new life we have in Christ.