Dying Well

In the epic series the Lord of the Rings as their fortress is under siege about to be over-run by the forces of evil, Gandalf  the wizard and Pippin the hobbit are waiting for battle as the gates are being rammed and facing what appears will be certain death. 

Pippin:  I didn’t think it would end this way.

Gandalf:  End?  No, the journey doesn’t end here.  Death is just another path.  One that we all must take.  The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass… And then you see it.

Pippin:  What Gandalf?... See what?

Gandalf: White shores… and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.

Pippin:(smiling) Well, that isn’t so bad.

Gandalf: No…No it isn’t.

Our existence goes beyond what is here.  We were created with more in store for us than just this life.  Understanding this life isn’t what we were created for, understanding that our lives here are preparing us for something much better ahead provides the basis for living well and looking towards dying well.  Living well means not getting trapped in the shallowness of this world that calls us to be something we were never meant to be.  Measuring ourselves against others to look better, be better, do better, know more, do more, and have more.  Living well means not being deceived to pursue the anxious, futile existence of pleasing ourselves, pleasing others, showing others I’m good, and trying to show God I’m good.   Living well is understanding the extremely simple, yet incredibly difficult to accept mystery, that Christ has rescued us.  He is the only door to the greatest treasures and unbelievable riches of wisdom and knowledge.  Dying well is the understanding that we have already died with Christ to this life and its shallowness and deceptions.  Dying well is our daily “putting to death” of our human cravings and desires replacing them with a true a hunger and thirst for righteousness.  Dying well is recognizing when it is our time it can welcomed rather than feared knowing the death of our physical body is not the end of our journey but just another path.  A path to a life we cannot fathom or imagine.

My goal is that they (you) may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they(you) may have  the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they(you) may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh] was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Colossians  2:2-4, 6-7, 9-13)

Father, help me know You to such depths that I will not be afraid.  Amen

Scotty Elston
Shallowater, Texas