Years ago I played basketball with some friends in a 3 on 3 tournament called the Gus Macker. It was a blast and we had some success, but most importantly we got to spend time together as friends. When you registered, they measured your height. This always caused me some anxiety because I've always heard that we shrink as we get older. I was afraid of shrinking!
If you read "I'm Not Afraid To Die Part I", you read about my Incredible Shrinking Grandma. She lived to be almost 103 yrs. old and the family believed she shrunk every year. She was pretty short the last time I saw her standing.
As a kid I mocked Bible stories. I never understood that Jesus spoke in parables or that God uses many metaphors and analogies to teach us Truth. It took me years of measuring my own importance before I realized that life is not all about me. Shrinking is okay when you esteem others as more important than yourself.
The older and shorter Gram got, the more she raised the importance of God in her life. She put others above her self. The Word of God says: "He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less." John 3:30, NLT. Those are words from John The Baptist as he spoke about Jesus. Here's my paraphrase of what i think he means: "Don't follow me. Follow Jesus. My words are only meant to point you to follow Christ. I can fade away, but Jesus is with you forever when you accept him."
I still play basketball although nobody measures me before a game anymore. (I do stretch at the gym hoping I can maintain my 6'.5" - yes that's point five inches over six foot!) The game of life is not about me - it's about being a Game-Changer for Christ. I should be living in such a way that my self-importance shrinks as Jesus becomes greater, evidenced through my words and actions.
Being afraid to die is like being afraid to shrink. You can't avoid either one, but you can look at them from God's perspective. He wants to die now so we can live eternally later in heaven. He wants us to shrink now so selfish pride won't raise us up until we fall in to hell.
God has ordained the years of our lives in our physical bodies. He made a way through Jesus to live without death, fear, pain, suffering or abuse. Nope, I'm not afraid of death and I don't measure myself anymore. My future is secure in Christ.
Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.
#ywap4God #JLYASDW
Friday November 15, 2019
9:23 AM MST
"I do not live anymore—it is Christ living in me.
I still live in my body,
but I live by faith in the Son of God.
He loved me and gave himself to save me."
Galatians 2:20 ICB
"You yourselves heard me say,
‘I am not the Christ.
I am only the one God sent to prepare the way for him.’
The bride belongs only to the bridegroom.
The friend who helps the bridegroom
waits and listens for him.
He is glad when he hears the bridegroom’s voice.
That is the same pleasure I have.
And my time of joy is now here.
He must become greater.
And I must become less important.
“The One who comes from above
is greater than all.
He who is from the earth
belongs to the earth and
talks about things on the earth.
But the One who comes from heaven
is greater than all."
John 3:28-31 ICB
