The Cure for Thanatophobia

Many, if not most, people are afraid of dying. Some people fear being dead. Others are afraid of the actual act of dying. However, if the fear is so prevalent as to affect your daily life, then you might have a full-blown case of what the experts call Thanatophobia, or the fear of death. Unlike many phobias that are triggered by specific incidents, thanatophobia may be constantly gnawing on the back of your mind. Many who suffer with this phobia report that their fear is worse at night, when they are alone in the dark and not distracted by day-to-day events.

I think it is fair to say that few people "welcome" death. Our physical bodies are such that they resists the efforts of death to rob us of life us and we fight valiantly to catch our breath though we may be suffering nearly unbearable pain. Such fear can become a bondage that keeps us from truly living!

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1 Corinthians 15:55

The story is told of a powerful man who was a Communist leader during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. A newspaper editor and member of the the Politburo, he was an author of works on economics and science that are still being read today. One day in 1930 he addressed a large crowd in the city of Kiev on the subject of atheism, using insults and arguments to prove his convictions.

After one hour he completed his speech and looked across the crowd that had gathered.
"Are there any questions?" he asked.
It was quite for a moment but then one man approached the dias and shouted a well-known Russian Orthodox greeting: "Christ is Risen!"
The crowd, which had fallen silent during the speech, rose to it's feet and responded in the classic answer to the greeting: "He is Risen Indeed!"

I guess you can tell a man whatever you want, but you can't squelch the faith that grows in the heart! So, as we approach this April weekend with its memorials of the first Easter, we take time to honor the visitation, some 2000 years ago, of that man named Jesus. He didn't just come to die; his death was for a purpose. He was God wrapped in flesh and he came to "deliver them who through FEAR OF DEATH were ALL THEIR LIFETIME subject to bondage."

He didn't just conquer death, but also the grave. He came to set you free! He came to take the victory out of death and the sting out of the grave. He IS the cure for thanatophobia!

The Grudge Match

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:32, KJV)

There is really only one match for a grudge: Forgiveness.

It's easy to hold a grudge, for a while at least. You know how it goes. We get hurt, real or imagined (sometimes the imagined feels worse and hurts longer), and if we hang onto it long enough a grudge will form. After a while, you're not only talking about the "instigator", but you're ducking down aisles in Walmart and Sobey's to avoid having to even see them and say hello.

Too many people let a grudge form and hang on because forgiveness is never about who is right and who is wrong. Mark Twain said, "Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it." We don't have to be right, but we have no right to be bitter either.

Mark Twain again: "Being bitter is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die." As the saying goes, "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

So forgive. Say it out loud. Tell God... and the one you're forgiving if it's appropriate. It's without doubt one of the most Christian responses we can ever make and is withheld to our own detriment.

Go ahead. Put Forgiveness in the ring with The Grudge. You'll see that The Grudge has finally met it's match.

... and You'll Grow, Grow, Grow...

2 Peter 1:5-8

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I am short. Yup... 5'4" standing "straight up, shoulders back, neck stretched, head high".

I'll be honest, there were days when it bothered me. Back in the "good ole days" when all my friends went soaring past me in the growth department. It helped the day I realized it wasn't my fault. It wasn't my tall friends fault either. Nor was it a result of too many cheeseburgers or too much coffee (which Grampy Harrison always said would "stunt my growth"). It was simply a factor beyond my control.

Spiritually, however, growth is a very different story. We ARE in control of our spiritual man. His health. His strength. His resilience. His self-discipline. That's on us.

I've heard from those people who "couldn't grow because of..." whatever. You can provide the "whatever" (or the whoever). The truth is, nobody can MAKE me grow... and nobody can STOP me from growing. I control my thoughts, my heart and my mind. I can offer them to God anytime that I wish. Or I can kick Him out of the process altogether.

In fact, if we're going to live victorious lives, we must become proactive in our warfare. OUR WEAPONS are mighty ONLY THROUGH CHRIST and WE must put those weapons to work casting down imaginations and taking into captivity every thought.

So if we're tired of inching our way along (or backward), let's take a look into the WORD today and let it kickstart some exciting advances in our life. If we stay like this, we've got no one to blame but ourselves.

As the old Sunday School song says:

Read your Bible, pray every day,
Pray every day, pray every day.
Read your Bible, pray every day,
And you’ll grow, grow, grow.

Don’t read your Bible, forget to pray,
Forget to pray, forget to pray.
Don’t read your Bible, forget to pray,
And you’ll shrink, shrink, shrink.