Are You Ready to Die?

     Acts 21:10-14; After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles."

     12 When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

     The Lord sent Agabus to Paul to test him. He was testing whether Paul would trust God to handle everything or run away to safety. Paul chose to trust God because he was not in love with life. He did not complain about living, but he also was perfectly fine with death. He would do anything God asked of because he loved God so much. He knew that when he died, he would go to heaven.

    I was talking to a friend of mine recently about the topic of death. I was expressing to her that I would never want someone to like jump in front of a car or anything to save my life because I really don't mind if I die. I told her that if someone walked in this room right now and shot me, I would be perfectly okay with that. Then I explained myself. I see life like this: God made everyone for a purpose. If my purpose has not been completed, then he won't let me die. God will protect me. If my purpose is finished, I don't want to be on this earth any longer than I have to. I'd be eager to die because I would be free of this corrupt world and in heaven. Nevertheless, I do believe that committing suicide is wrong, and you will not go to heaven if you kill yourself. Think about it. Satan wants to destroy as many people as possible. He tries to make us stumble. If he is encouraging us to kill ourselves, that means he wants us to die because he knows then he will have us. He would not want us to die if we were going to go to heaven.

     My friend did not really agree with my look on life, and that is okay with me. Personally, I don't really understand why anyone would want to cling onto life here when they can be saved and go to heaven. It is totally fine with me that she disagrees. I still love her just as much if not more. It would be hard for me to have a friend that always agreed with me.

    What is your look on life? If God asked you to go somewhere you would be chained and beat, would you trust him to take care of you?

~Daughter of the Light