Death is inevitable. I learned this at a young age as my grandparents went to the hospital and never came home. I still have a physical photo of the outfit I wore to my first funeral of a grandparent. It was a red patterned dress with a white lace collar and faux pearl buttons. I had those little white socks with the lace trim and shiny pattern leather Mary Jane. I didn’t yet have to worry about necklines or undergarments because I was a child. It’s hard to tell how well I understood the gravity of death, but I do know I missed my Pappy dearly and felt a deep sense of sadness that I wouldn’t get to hear him play his trumpet and watch him draw his silly comics anymore. It’s strange to be so close to the beginning of your life and already acquainted with the end. How do you accept that you will die one day?
As Christians, we often soothe the gravity of this insight by reminding ourselves of eternity: “We will see them again.” “This is not the end.” “They have gone to a better place, and we will join them one day.” While these sentiments are comforting at the moment, it’s understandable that the reality of an inevitable death strikes fear in many people’s hearts. How can we be okay with death? In a letter sent in 1959, C.S. Lewis said there are only 3 things we can do about death: “to desire it, to fear it, or to ignore it.” Can Christians embrace mortality? Might it be possible that our mortality could, instead, drive us to live more fully, with more peace and joy? As Christians, we don’t need to be consumed by the fear of death, and here’s why:
What the Bible Says About Our Temporary Lives
What does the Bible teach about our lives being temporary? What is the Christian perspective on living with the reality of death? How can we be content with our limits as humans?
When I find myself asking questions like this, I quickly think of the Christians who devalue our lives on earth and place too much value on the life to come. Though we are called to have an eternal perspective, there’s still beauty and fullness to being faithful with our lives today!
Unpacking James K.A. Smith’s Perspective
I just finished reading a book called How to Inhabit Time by James K.A. Smith. It’s a fascinating deep-dive into the tension we face as transitory creatures serving an eternal, immortal, unchanging, unending God. One quote in particular stuck out to me,
“Our finitude is not a fruit of the Fall (even if it is affected by the Fall). Contigency is not a curse. To live in resentment of creaturely finitude is its own form of pride. Of course, there is much to lament in many of our losses. We are robbed by the brokenness of the Fall. But not everything that fades has been stolen. Not all passing away is an outworking of the curse. Learning to live with, even celebrate, the transitory is a mark of Christian timekeeping, a way of settling into our creaturehood and resting in our mortality.”
Often, I find it easier to brush off each moment lost as a mark of the fall. When the reality sets in that the days and years are rushing by faster (and slower) than I imagined, it’s natural to attribute this to the curse.
The Bible does tell us, “To the woman he said…by the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:16,19) This is why it’s an easy leap to make that any change or loss is a result of sin. However, God did not merely create a thriving world filled with creatures and then freeze them in time. He created all life to change, grow, and develop, which means there were natural ends to days, seasons, and phases. God designed a transitory, cyclical pattern to life.
Smith goes on to say that being unsatisfied with our human limits is a form of pride or hubris. We should not resent our creaturely finitude. Instead, we are called to humbly accept our God-given limitations.
Biblical Teachings on Death and Mortality
What does the Bible say about death and mortality? After several decades of growing up surrounded by Christianity and church culture, I find it’s especially crucial to identify the “Christian” ideas I’ve internalized and ask if they came from the Bible or from a well-intentioned but ill-informed believer. This is why 1 Thessalonians 5:21 states, “Test everything; hold fast what is good.”
Bible Verses on Death and Loss
- “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)
- “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:14)
- “The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90:10)
Quotes About Death from Christian Theologians
Mortality is woven into the fabric of human existence. Most of our beloved thinkers and theologians have grappled with this concept at some point in their lives. So rather than start from “square one” on our own, it might do our hearts good to hear what they had to say:
“He doesn’t think twice about calling people away from this world or about compelling them to keep existing in it. Human beings go on being born to have life and mortality inscribed upon them.” (Augustine)
“When I lay these questions before God, I get no answer. But rather, a special kind of ‘no answer.’ It is not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly not uncompassionate, gaze. As though He shook His head not in refusal but waiving the question. Like, ‘Peace, child; you don’t understand.’ . . . Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable. How many hours are there in a mile? Is yellow square or round? Probably half the questions we ask—half our great theological and metaphysical problems—are like that. … Heaven will solve our problems, but not by showing us subtle reconciliations between all our apparently contradictory notions. The notions will be knocked from under our feet. We shall see that there never was any problem.” (C.S. Lewis)
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Ultimately, our human lives will be filled with paradoxes. One of these is that our richest, most fulfilling lives will be lived when we learn to live fully in the present as creatures with a future hope. Our limits cultivate an ecosystem where God’s limitlessness can shine! We can see the infinite in our finite lives when we learn to:
- Depend on God’s power in us, not our own strength or self-sufficiency
- Allow the discomforts of this world to spur us toward what is eternal
- Embrace a Pauline-inspired contentment in each sacred and mundane moment
My Personal Story of Overcoming Death Anxiety
As a young tween, I was overcome by a fear of death. Pets and grandparents had died, and the possibility of my own unpredictable death loomed in my psyche. The fear was so strong that I avoided reading the Book of Revelation altogether, and end-times theology made me uncomfortable. I grew up in a culture that told heroic stories of self-sacrificing missionaries and Christian martyrs and encouraged other believers to pick up their cross and follow Jesus. Consequently, I remember conversations with other young peers about whether we would be willing to give up our lives for Jesus or be persecuted for our faiths. Now, these are all valuable questions for mature believers to grapple with, but as a young girl who had barely even finished middle school, they may have been too weighty for me.
I tell this story not to criticize the churches or circles I grew up in but rather to offer an experience others may relate to. The fear of death is remarkably common, but I think it sometimes feels less valid to speak of in Christian circles because we have all the “Sunday School Answers” that death isn’t really the end. But for my anxious teenage self, that may have been part of why it felt scary. It was unknown, abstract, and unpredictable. Jesus saw my anxiety, though, and He met me there. I don’t even recall talking to Him much about it because I’m sure I felt like He expected me to “pick up my cross” anyways. But that is not His nature. So He met me by showing me that he had a plan for my LIFE, not my death. He wanted me to embrace the abundant life He offered and live it to the fullest. In this, God freed me from the anxiety of death, and once the fear was removed, I felt so free that I sat down and read the Book of Revelation the next day.
How can we feel calm about the fact that we will die someday? If you or someone you know has been searching for how to overcome the fear of death or how to find meaning in life, go to Jesus! Though your fears about death and mortality may be different than those of a 12-year-old girl, Jesus wants to meet you and free you to experience an abundant LIFE.
*Alternatively, if you have a fixation on death, encounter intrusive thoughts about death, or experience suicidal ideation, Jesus wants to bring you peace and comfort, too. Though this blog doesn’t dive specifically into these facets of death, you are not alone. If you are actively considering harm to yourself or others, dial 988 to speak with someone who can help.
How to Live Each Day to the Fullest as a Christian
How do you make peace with mortality? How do you live life to the fullest, knowing you’re going to die? Do you know how to live with intention despite the transience of your life? As James K.A. Smith’s quote illustrates, there is a beauty to impermanence. This can be especially hard to embrace for anyone who has experienced deep suffering or trauma. There’s an impulse to cling and hold onto any good thing forever and never let it go. The fear is that this will be the last good thing you experience, which is a scarcity mindset brought on by your past experiences. But our God is a God of abundance, and in Him, goodness never runs out.
In fact, Psalm 23 proclaims that goodness and mercy will follow you, pursue you, and chase after you all the days of your life! What good news! Smith says, “…too often, we try to fabricate eternity: we cling and dig in our claws, refusing to let go. The irony is that we lose in grasping. Sometimes it is precisely when we try to seize and freeze what is passing that we abjure our creaturehood and lose something that is right in front of us.”
Have you ever experienced this at a concert, sports game, or other one-time event? It’s such an exciting occasion that you feel the urge to capture it, so you can share it and remember it. So, you pull out your phone, but in your attempt to capture the moment, you are no longer present to it. This was the tension I felt when I attended Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. When I pulled out my phone to take a picture or video, I was no longer looking at the performers. Instead, I was looking at a screen. My reality was mediated, and therefore, the question could be presented: Was I really experiencing reality in that moment? Or was I experiencing a collection of pixels meant to represent this reality but falling far short?
Smith recalls moments like this in his life and suggests that sometimes, the memories most vivid in our minds are the memories we have no pictures of. “The penchant to capture every instant of beauty on my iPhone becomes a way of losing the world. Rather than living with me in my visceral memory, all the joy and beauty I experience ends up buried in a photos folder I barely look at.”
So, how do we live life to the fullest? How can we be present to experience each fleeting moment in all of its paradoxical impermanence without grasping to keep it forever?
Developing Spiritual Practices to Live in the Present Moment
Here are a few ways you can actively practice presence to embrace the gifts God has given you TODAY to experience His abundant life:
1. Be Thankful for What’s Temporary and Present
Don’t take the little moments for granted. As many young moms say, “The days are long, but the years are short.” There are small joys and mundane beauties that you will encounter in this day or this season of life that may be far less accessible in other seasons of life. Enjoy them, no matter how small, and offer up thanksgiving to God!
2. Cultivate Spiritual Practices to Accept Mortality and Look Toward Eternity
Jesus is eager to hear your thoughts and anxieties regardless of your feelings on the topic. Spending time in prayer can bring peace that passes all understanding. You can also practice Christian meditation by focusing your mind and heart on Scripture verses that reshape your imagination to envision a full life rather than a scary death. Contemplation can be a helpful tool, as it involves spending dedicated time pondering your soul’s longing for the infinite and the permanent. As you spend time in thought to embrace your apprehensions and release your anxieties, you can relinquish your pursuit of control and ask God to assure you of His power and permanence.
3. Find Meaning and Security Beyond Chasing Permanence
When we acknowledge that death isn’t the end, and we are promised an eternal future without the brokenness, darkness, and evil we face now, there is an assuredness that we can glean. Time is temporary, but it is not running out. In fact, God has a way of stretching and multiplying our time when it really matters. So rather than feeling panic, you can focus on investing in what lasts, knowing that God has a way of providing “abundance for today” or just enough to experience fullness in fleeting moments.
4. Follow These Tips to Live Life with Intention Daily
- Start each day with gratitude
- List out thanks and praises
- Set priorities and follow through
- Identify top 1-3 priorities
- Plan and act accordingly
- Pursue a life purpose beyond yourself
- Serve others to make an impact
- Be present in your relationships
- Engage in quality time with people
- Practice active listening in relationships
- Take care of your physical health
- Implement nutrition, exercise, rest
- Make time for activities you enjoy
- Leave space for hobbies, interests, and fun
The Christian Call to Embrace this Fleeting Life
As Christians, we have the opportunity to find peace and contentment in the face of our mortality. The Bible teaches us that our finite lives are not a curse but part of God’s design. While death is inevitable, it need not be feared or resented. Instead, we can choose to celebrate the transitory nature of life, embracing each moment as a gift from our Creator.
By cultivating spiritual practices such as gratitude, prayer, and presence, we can learn to live in the here and now, finding joy and purpose in the simple beauties that surround us. By investing in what truly lasts – our relationships, service to others, and the pursuit of God’s kingdom – we can experience a richness that transcends the fleeting nature of earthly things.
As we reflect on the insights of Christian thinkers and theologians throughout the ages, we are reminded that our mortality is not a reason for despair but an invitation to live more fully, with an eternal perspective. So, let us embrace the call to be intentional with our time, setting priorities that align with our values and making space for the activities and relationships that bring us true fulfillment. By doing so, you will find that even in the midst of life’s impermanence, you can experience a profound sense of peace, purpose, and contentment – a true mark of Christian timekeeping.
