One of the songs sung in the 1936 movie ,'Show Boat', by that wonderful singer Paul Robeson was 'OI' Man River,',it has the following words in it, 'I get weary and sick of trying, I'm tired of living and scared of dying', The last words ,'scared of dying',is a reminder that death can be a fearful thing.we live in a time when people live just for here and now. If a person is dying without Christ they should be fearful, for after death there comes judgement,but for the Christian heaven beckon's,no judgement awaits in relation to hell for the child of God,it is absent from the body and present with the Lord ( 2 Corinthians 5 v 8) So that should quite all our fears,after all we are all familer with those words from the 23rd Psalm v 4, 'Even though I walk through the valley of shadow of death,I will fear no evil,for you are with me'.Yet for some Christians death strikes fear in to them, the hymn writer touches on this,when he writes,'When I tread the verge of Jordon,bid my anxious fears subside'.We must not judge people who struggle with the thought of death,but it does raise a question,how to cope with our mortality,you cannot win that argument,we are going to die,and so it is we must hold on loosely to the things of this life.We are told to set our hearts on things above where Christ is (Colossians 3 v 2),how often do we think of heaven?,what do we value the most?, Here is what is important,our God who grants us grace for living, will surely grant us grace for dying,
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