Set Me Free: Devotions From Time of Grace MinistryPrimjer

SET ME FREE FROM MY GREATEST FEARS: DYING

"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

The above lines are from Welsh poet Dylan Thomas's most famous poem. He wrote them as he watched his father, a once vigorous soldier, grow weak and frail. Thomas' words grip our hearts--we all dread dying, and we fear the dying of those we love. Thomas' own "light" was extinguished in 1953, and he probably did not go gently.

I get his point. Dying is the last human adventure on this earth. Dying exists in God's once immortal human race as a punishment for human evil and rebellion. It is not nice or natural.

But Jesus has changed everything. By taking on himself the guilt and blame and condemnation for human sin, the dying process loses its terror and fear and becomes merely the fall into Jesus' arms. Here are sweet words from a man in his 90s: "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. . . . Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10). You can go gently when you know Christ is waiting for you.