| http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> name="GENERATOR" content="StarSuite 8 ASUS Edition (Win32)"> Non-Christian interpretation of Christian scripture for Non-Christians and Christians Before we talk about how you “die before you die,” let’s talk about how you just plain die. For a normal, not very spiritually advanced person, dying just sucks. It sucks bad. When you find that you are getting old, most people tend to get really sad. When you find out you’re sick or have a disease, most people tend to cry, moan, weep, gnash their teeth, scream, curse God, ask “why me,” etc. When you’re actually dying, you can’t stand the idea of not seeing your girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, or husband anymore. Maybe it’s not getting to see your kids or not enjoying your earthly possessions – Or not attaining all the things you wished you had attained in life. You can’t stand it! If you’re lucky, you let go towards the end and move on peacefully. If you don’t let go, then you’re extremely miserable until the very second you die – and probably afterwards too. Whether or not you believe in a real hell, this type of dying is like hell. And aging in this manner is also like being in hell. You are constantly facing things you can’t bear to face, but are powerless to change. This is not how you should die let alone live your life. What’s the solution to avoid this fate? Die before you die.
How do you die before you die? Lots of people have heard this phrase. Few people have any idea what it actually means. Most people know this phrase from the bible. In the book of Matthew 10:39 you see this: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Most people have a hazy kind of general Christian interpretation of this phrase. That interpretation is roughly this, “Be a Christian and you’ll live (in heaven) or keep doing what you’re doing (not being Christian) and when you die, you’ll really die (and go to hell).” Whether or not this interpretation is correct can be set a side for the moment. If you are a Christian, how exactly would you go about losing your life? Is being baptized enough? (No.) If it were, Jesus wouldn’t have taught anything. He would have just baptized everyone and told them to believe in him, the end. He taught “stuff” cause he wanted you to actually go do “stuff.” If you’re not a Christian, what exactly would be so different about your life if you decided to give it up? That’s what we’re going to talk about today.
The reason this phrase is in the bible is because Jesus wanted people to actually change to way they lived and died. It was not a mental exercise, yoga move, or something to be “believed in”. He was not looking to build physical churches, get membership lists, and fill the pews with bodies. He probably didn’t even care if you called yourself a “Christian” or not. I don’t even think they were even using that word until after he died. The real meaning of being a Christian is “Do you practice what Jesus taught? = Do you follow Jesus?” If so you’re a Christian. Do you treat your enemies kindly? You’re a Christian. Do you refrain from killing? You’re a Christian. Do you help to poor and widowed? You’re a Christian. If you’re complaining that since you don’t do everything in the bible you don’t count as a Christians, I’ve got news for you. No one does everything in the bible. We’re all Christians to different extents. And if you follow what Jesus taught, but don’t believe Jesus taught it, you’re being a silly-willy. Maybe you’re following you’re own homemade moral code. Ok, maybe you’re not a Christian, but maybe you wouldn’t mind being one if you didn’t have to look for a church where everyone is a good representation of how Jesus wanted us to act. Sorry those don’t exist yet. Don’t look for healthy people in a hospital. Don’t look for perfect people in a church. That’s why some people are “young in the lord” according to the bible. Some people do more, some people do less. It’s hard work. What about those people who say they believe in Jesus and the bible, go to church functions all the time, but never actually change their lives and still act like jerks? I’m not going to say they’re definitely going to heaven. Are you? I doubt they are. There’s a verse in the bible talking about people who will call on Jesus’s name after they die but Jesus will ignore them because he never knew who they were. Could those people be the people who never put these lessons into action? So, back to the topic, how would you have died before your real death if you were Jesus’ friend back in the day?
Let’s look at some of his disciples. When Jesus met Peter, he told him to stop being a fisherman and follow him. Now, before Peter met Jesus, let’s think about his life. Peter probably learned the fishing trade, worked hard, saved up some money, bought a boat, had a nice little business going. He probably had regular customers, sales, specials, he had over-head, business concerns. He probably even did a little research into fish living habits. He had to keep the boat in good shape, do repairs, make new nets, etc. He had a house, friends, probably a girl he liked. That was his life. He was Peter the fisherman. It was his title, his image. It’s a lot like your life. You went to school, got a degree or two, got a job, earned a name for yourself, you have a place to live, friends, a life. That’s your life.
Now, what did Jesus say to Peter? He wanted Peter to give up his life and follow him. How do you give up your life? You have to be willing to let everything go. Peter did this. Would you be able to? Or would your face cringe and you’d start to wine about how you just can’t let go? Look how hard it is for people to take one year off to go on a long trip, or vacation? They’re so afraid of not being able to pay the rent or having their “life fall apart.” So they stay and “tend their life” until they lose it – painfully. There was another guy in the bible who Jesus asked to give up his life, but this guys asked if he could at least go home and wait until his father died, bury him, and then follow Jesus later. But Jesus said that was not good enough. That’s like if someone nowadays asked you to give up your life, but you said, “Oh please not right now, just let me do this job until I get my retirement benefits” or “Oh, my mom really needs me these days, I can’t drop everything right now, I’ll do that when she doesn't need any help anymore.” or “I need to save up a little more money before I can quit this job. I don’t have enough to be secure yet.” Jesus said that didn’t count. Why not? Cause you don’t know when you’re going to die and by the time you’re ready to give your life up, you may already be dead. What if your life is going to end next week in a car accident? You’ll have spent it in this “bad” frame of mind.
Why is it “bad” to live your life without first giving it up? Cause that kind of life sucks. That kind of life is filled with things called attachments. You’re attached to your job, your title, your wife, your kids, your money, your car, your everything. The more stuff you have, the more attachments you have. That’s why its harder for a “rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.” He’s got too many things he’s attached to, which means his stuff controls his life and his mind. For someone with attachments, if at any time these things are taken from you, you feel great pain, annoyance, anger, fear, sadness, etc. And even if there’s nothing wrong, you might feel fear and pain about the risk of losing any of these things. Are you feeling upset about anything today? If you are, ask yourself which thing you’re attached to that’s making you upset. You’ll realize that if you were willing to give that thing up, you’d be fine. The problem would disappear, and you’d be happy. Why were all of Jesus’ disciples single? Cause a significant other is one of the hardest things to give up. And if you lose one, it’s one of the most painful things in life. The 12 of them were trying to learn how to give up their lives and so before they’d mastered it, they needed to give things up, not get attached to even more things. Most people never finish this process. They assume things will finish themselves of in heaven. Come on! Don’t be lazy! Live a happy life today!
What’s the result of all this? At the end of all this effort. These disciples left their jobs, family, friends, money, everything. They had given up their lives, they were “free.” In that freedom, they found a peace that surpasses all things. They never had to be in fear of losing anything, cause they had lost it already. Are you Christian, yet wondering why you still feel so much pain and sadness in life? You probably didn’t give up your life. You haven’t died to follow Jesus yet. You haven’t “given it all up to God. You haven’t laid down your life and picked up Jesus’ cross to die with him.” The cross is heavy and hard, but it leads to happiness. Go die now and be happy tomorrow. Don’t wait until you’re dead to start trying. It’s a very powerful thing if you actually go do it. Have you ever been afraid of losing a job, but once you’re fired, or quit, you feel a huge burden has been lifted from you? Or maybe you felt that way after ending a bad relationship? Maybe you were so scared of asking someone out, but once you did you were finally so happy and you’re whole state of mind changed. If you couldn’t bear to let go of that job or partner and were still strongly attached, then you would not have felt free. You would have felt the pain of being tied to something you can’t have. But for some of you, it was an amazing feeling of freedom. Imagine you felt like that about everything in life for the rest of your life. That’s what it means to die before you die.
I was reading a book recently called The Last Lecture. It’s about a professor named Randy Pausch who found out he had 10 tumors in his liver and only 3 months to live. Instead of being extremely sad about all the things he couldn’t bear to part with, he decided to let go. He felt free, happy, and enjoyed the rest of his life as if every day were his last day. Unfortunately, he only spend three months in that kind of free, happy state. Some people only spend the last few days of their lives like that. Jesus wanted us all to spend every day of our whole life with that kind of freedom and happiness. That’s why Christians tell other Christians to “give it up to God.” This isn’t some kind of supernatural offering to the heavens. This literally means that you need to give it up. Let go. Cut the strings to why you need to hold on to that thing. Ever heard the phrase “If you love something let it go, if it loves you it will return.” Do that for everything. Not just guys and girls. Let go of your car. If it gets stolen, on well, you already let it go. If it doesn’t get stolen, good for you, you spent your whole life with a car and never worried about what was going to happen to your nice new expensive car. If you do this with your life, you can usually have your cake and eat it too. Sometimes you will lose a piece of cake here and there, but you won’t mind. There are so many things in life you can enjoy more when you have given it up. Like a job. If you don’t care if you’re fired tomorrow, you’ll never feel stress at work, never worry about what your boss thinks, etc – unless you have some other kind of attachment there, like “I need to have other people only think good things about me.” Then you have two or more attachments to let go of.
If you can do this with everything in your life, you’ll experience this freedom. You’ll experience this kind of joy. Some people call this enlightenment. Where your mind works differently from then on. Once this change has taken place, you can go back to doing whatever you were doing before, but you’ll have a completely different attitude about it. You won’t be attached and you won’t feel all the negative emotions that would have come with those attachments. Too many Christians these days claim to follow Christ and to have give up their lives for God, when in fact they are grasping at their possessions and lives so strongly that they feel negative emotions everyday. Let it go! Let it go! Let it go!
Homework:
Write down the top 20 things that you are attached to on the left of the page. In the center, write down if you’ve ever felt a negative feeling or emotion because of your attachment to that thing and the name of that emotion. Then on the right side of the page, write down why you can’t let go of that thing. The answer is usually the F word. “Fear.” I’m afraid of being alone. I’m afraid of being single. I’m afraid of the dating scene. I’m afraid that she won’t like me anymore. I’m afraid of being poor. I’m afraid I won’t find a different job. I’m afraid of having to take the bus to work. I’m afraid of going hungry. It’s usually fear. If it’s not fear, you’re a desirous person who has an insatiable desire to get things. This desire pushes you thought life. Don’t let desire control your life. That’s how animals live. They let their desires, instincts, and emotions control their lives cause they have wimpy brains. Use your brain to live, not your desire. If it’s not fear and it’s not desire, you probably don’t know why you’re doing half the junk you’re doing and you’re just kind of bumbling through life or letting someone else tell you want to do cause you can’t make your own choices. If that’s the case, it’s time to be a big boy or girl, grow up, live your own life, and decide how you live with your own mind. Jesus told everyone not to be timid, that means don’t be a scaredy-cat. You know how Jesus make his disciples practice doing this? They had to go traveling with out any money or supplies after they left everything in their life behind. They had to just go around and face all the fears of “What if I don’t have ______.” Being afraid of bad things won’t prevent bad things from happening. If you’re going to lose your job, then you’re going to lose it. If you could have done anything to change your fate, you didn’t need fear to make it happen. Fear only brings more stress, stress brings cancer, and cancer makes you die faster. So how can you practice? Go down the list, one by one, and figure out why you’re attached, why you wouldn’t be able to let that thing go if you had to, and how to practice. Maybe you can just imagine the worst case scenario and convince yourself you’d be fine if that happened. Maybe you could actually give that thing away. Maybe you could face your fear in one way or another. Maybe you could think logically about how your fear is actually irrational, it’s not as bad as you think, and everything would actually be fine if you let it go. Good luck! |
