If I were to ask this general question, “What are you afraid of?” How many differing answers would there be? Or would there be only variations of a few answers?

I’ll get the big one in the open. Death — my own or someone to whom I am close. This is a fear that has plagued me from childhood. Don’t think I haven’t felt a faith failure over it. Because everything my book, the Bible, tells me is to not be afraid.

People are full of talk when someone dies of how that person is in a “better place.” Trouble is almost nobody actually wants to go there anytime soon. Humans cling to survival instinct.

When my mother was dying she said, “Death is the last enemy we face.” I know how much I believe everything the Bible says about death not being the end — about a “place prepared” in heaven — because when she took that final breath I was filled with awe and kept repeating in wonderment, “She’s there, she’s there.” You can’t fake that.

I was talking with Jesus about this fear, which is a perfectly normal thing to do when He is in my life for the long haul and cares about every part of it. I said, “This world is what I know. I feel scared to leave it.”

The answer I heard in my spirit was immediate. “No, this world isn’t what you know. It’s Me in the world that you know.” I couldn’t argue. Because how I do life is with His presence and guidance. And I know full well I could not do it any other way.

Karl Marx can rant all he wants about “religion” being the “opium of the people.” If that means faith in Christ I’m happily addicted.

So Jesus and I are working on this not being afraid. And we’re gaining on it. I’ve heard the Bible encourages against fear 365 times — one for every day of the year. Goes to show how invasively prevalent fear is.

It’s not the coronavirus all over the news these days that has people afraid. The real fear is dying. Something God has worked very hard to address with humanity. The giver of life provides a way out of fear. Jesus speaks with authority, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

This is how the last enemy is faced. This is how I win.