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“For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”  1 John 2:16-17

The world and everything in it are being perfectly sustained by the Creator—every molecule being held together until His determined time (Col 1:17). It is in perfect balance, per His plan. But amid the global cacophony by radical environmentalists of “existential threats”, there is a nugget of truth: the earth is on a slow trajectory of disintegration, and there is coming a day when everything will burn up (2 Peter 3:10). Likewise, worldly culture is not moving in the direction of utopian perfection. Rather, it’s succumbing to greater tyranny, divisiveness, and evil—thanks to the god of this world, Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4). Finally, despite all the anti-aging injections, surgeries, and pills, we human beings are also in a state of degeneration (ask anyone over 50, when waking up with a sprained ankle and sneezing your way to a pulled back are really a thing). The mortality rate, according to every statistician ever, is 100%.

Today, fear of death seems to be ubiquitous—thanks to the media’s fear-feeding-frenzy. They love it, as it’s great for ratings. Unfortunately, their efforts are sorely misplaced. For adults ages 18-45 (during the “prime of life”), the #1 cause of death in the U.S. right now is fentanyl overdose. Let that sink in a minute. More adults in this age range die of this savage drug than of anything else—and it’s at a rate nearly twice that of the #2 cause of death, motor vehicle accidents. Just as sad and horrific is that the third leading cause of death in this age group is suicide. (And based on numbers from CDC and other sources, nearly twice as many people are dying from fentanyl in that age range than are dying of reported COVID cases.)*

No matter the current state of the world, our nation, or your community, death is—and will continue to be—all around us. The question is whether you’re facing death with worldly fear or heavenly anticipation.

But, friend, death has been conquered! Jesus came to earth, fully God and fully Man, to defeat our mortal enemy. Through His death and resurrection, His victory made a way for us to have new life—eternal life with God. This world is not our home—we are citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20; 1 Peter 2:9; Hebrews 13:14). When we belong to the King, this world and the things of it are not our friend (1 John 5:19; James 4:4; John 15:19). In fact, because the world is passing away (1 Corinthians 7:31; 1 John 2:16-17), there’s no reason to be hanging onto it for dear life.

And, to the believer: We’re not meant to be building castles for ourselves on this earthly kingdom or joining a radical cause to “save the planet.” We are here as ambassadors of our King—and the eternal kingdom—to bring as many people to “citizenship” with us as possible.

Life is deadly. But we can live it without fear and trepidation (Psalm 118:6; Matthew 10:26-28). In Christ, we are guarded by peace, whatever this broken world brings (Romans 5:1; Philippians 4:7; Colossians 3:15). Faith in Jesus Christ brings confident hope, which conquers fear (Romans 15:13; Deuteronomy 31:6).  Won’t you choose faith over fear today?

“Lord, Your perfect love conquers fear (1 John 4:18) and offers hope. May I spread the Good News of eternal life amid so much bad news in the world.”

For His Glory

Julianne Winkler Smith
TRBC Women’s Life

*https://familiesagainstfentanyl.org; https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fentanyl-overdose-death; https://web.archive.org/web/20211217171809/https://www.foxnews.com/us/fentanyl-overdoses-leading-cause-death-adults