Overview
We usually avoid talk of our own mortality. Author Tim Jones observes that Americans, with hospitals and funeral homes to shield them from death's inevitable presence, find it easy to sidestep that eventuality. But Christian faith teaches us that the meaning of our lives will be found beyond life and that death leads, for the believer, to something better than life. This study looks at how we should view death—our own death—even as we live, and what difference that view should make in the way we live today.
Table of Contents
SCRIPTURE: Job 12:7–10; 14:1–5; Psalm 103:13–16; Ecclesiastes 3:2; 8:8a; Luke 12:16–21, 25, 32–34; 1 Corinthians 13:12; 15:50–58; 2 Corinthians 4:16–18; Hebrews 13:14; James 4:13–16
LEADER'S GUIDE
• The Issue
Sample questions:
Why do we avoid the subject of death?
What are some ways our society tries to shield us from the reality of death?
• The Scriptures
Sample Scriptures:
Job 12:7–10; 14:1–5: What does Job mean in verse 10 when he says, "In [God's] hand is the life of every living thing–
Luke 12:16–21, 25, 32–34: What did Jesus say should be our attitude toward this life and what we perceive as its rewards?
• The Application
Sample application questions:
How would you like to be remembered? What difference does the long (eternal) view make in your assessment of this question?
How should the expectation that our life on this earth will one day come to an end—maybe sooner, maybe later—affect our attitude toward living in the present?
ARTICLE FROM CHRISTIANITY TODAY
• Death in the Mirror, Timothy K. Jones (June 1991, 4 printed pages)
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