I’m reading one of the early church fathers, Athanasius. He describes the purpose and reality of Christ’s incarnation, defending it through a variety of arguments.
The argument that is the most striking to me right now is the argument about the eagerness of Christians to die. Why? Because it seems to me that most of today’s Christians are not eager to experience physical death. Including me.
In Athanasius’ eyes, death is shown to be powerless. We ought to scoff at death and death’s threats. Our decisions should certainly not be made based on whether or not our actions will lead to our deaths. Jesus Christ is our Life and Resurrection. We have nothing to fear from death, and should be eager to show others how powerless it really is.
Paul questions at one point whether he will die or continue to live, concluding that he will continue to live because it is the best thing for certain others. So there are certainly good reasons to go on living. But Paul’s decisions were not made in such a way as to enable him to go on living. All that Paul did was for the purpose of proclaiming the good news of life and righteousness in Jesus Christ. This pushed him to death’s borders multiple times. At any point God could have decided that it was better for Paul to die.
And that ought to be the crux of the matter. Do we Christians so utterly believe in Jesus’ victory over death that we leave all our decisions and actions in God’s hands, not concerning ourselves with whether we will live or die? Do we actually prefer death for the sake of experiencing the presence of Jesus, and gladly proclaim God’s truth and love in the face of death’s threats? Do we leave the timing of our actual passing in God’s hands? Or do we seek to hold death off, fearing it to the end?
I pray that my decisions may from this point onward submit to God’s, and that I might never make a decision not to speak or act for the
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