To Die Well, One Needs To Live Well

Last evening, our second night of our Parish Mission,  Jim’s reflection centered on To Die Well, One Needs to Live Well.

One of the scriptures he shared was that of raising Lazarus from the dead. I sometimes wonder if Lazarus really wanted to come back! Was he as willing as we imagine?  He already died, if he had a taste of life eternal, why come back to this life once again? And coming back was he any different? This led me to the following reflection:

Ohio is plagued by snowy winters, requiring that salt be put on road surfaces to make them safer to travel. The problem is that salt eats away at a car’s metal body. So, going to a car wash is a frequent winter ritual.

Recently I was sitting in a car-wash facility near the end of the washing process when the machines began to spray a special liquid all over the car. The sign said it was a “drying agent,” but that struck me as odd. Wetting something down to dry it seems contrary to what you’d expect. Yet that is precisely what those chemicals are designed to do. It is counter-intuitive thinking—a paradox.

Jesus also dealt in counter-intuitive thinking when presenting His kingdom message to His followers. In Matthew 16:25, He said, “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” That doesn’t sound right. To save your life, you have to lose it? That seems like saying, “To dry something, you wet it down!” Yet, it is absolutely true. Only as we die to self, entrusting ownership of our lives to Christ, can we learn what it means to really live.

Jim’s reflection leads us to ponder how are we daily living the dying and rising of Jesus? Dying well means dying each day to the things that stop us from embracing the way of Jesus and dedicating ourselves to living the Christian life well.

“Dying to live” may seem counter-intuitive, but it is the heart of the Christian experience. [Bill Crowder, Our Daily Bread]

To live for Christ, we must learn to die to self. And in doing so, we can embrace life in Christ, a life that will never end.