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Key Bible Verse: Only by dying … could he deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying (Hebrews 2:14-15). Bonus Reading: Luke 12:16-21

We all want to live long, healthy lives. There's so much to do, see, and experience. Lurking beneath our gusto for living is the fear of sickness and death. The possibility of an untimely death—leaving loves ones, friends, and the things we've accumulated—is alarming. An illness or the death of a loved one or friend forces us to think about it. But then we submerge this disturbing subject again and race on in the fast lane of living.

Many Christians, who should have the greatest freedom from the fear of death, are no more confident than anyone else. We want Christ to help us live the abundant life now, but we give far too little thought to our eternal life. And often, when we are hit with sickness ourselves or face it in our loved ones, we find that the extent of our faith is our hope that Christ will intervene to heal us so that we can live longer. Quantity of years becomes more important than the quality of our lives. Since we think about death as little as possible, our faith isn't stretched to include the vibrant confidence that, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

—Lloyd Ogilvie in Facing the Future Without Fear

My Response: I'll ask God to take charge of my imagination, making it a channel for His vision and not a breeding place for fear.

Adapted from Facing the Future Without Fear (Regal, 1999, 2002) by permission.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me match my stance toward physical death with my confidence in the eternal life You gave me.

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