Wake Up, Look Up

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hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach

wrock and in today's episode we're

asking the question are you ready to die

what a great way to start the morning

right well it's prompted by a really

thought provoking article that was in

the Atlantic this week written by Arthur

Brooks who is himself a confessing

Catholic so approaching the concept of

death from his faith one of the things

he talked about is it's very common in

human culture in literature and movies

and different kinds of art to wrestle

with death uh death for us prompts

feelings of fear and Frailty and even a

paranoia uh but that might not be the

most necessary or most helpful way of

thinking about death at least according

to Brooks he he juxtaposes our natural

fear of death with the actual experience

of those who are dying a study show that

people in Hospice Care people who know

their terminal people who know that

death is just days or even moments away

actually say that their positivity

increases that actually they get happier

there's something freeing about knowing

you're going to die something clarifying

something that makes you maximize every

minute declutter your life separate

things into the bucket of what matters

and the bucket of what doesn't matter uh

Brooks's argument in the article is that

this philosophy that becomes so clear to

us days before our death actually is the

one we should carry with us all the time

he he points to the fact that different

worldviews have ways of cultivating uh

this feeling of Frailty this awareness

that I'm going to die he talks about how

the gateway to positivity might just be

embracing the

inevitability of your death instead of

relegating it to the list of things you

don't think about actually make it front

and center I guess I found the article

so interesting because it connects so

readily to what Jesus teaches throughout

the scripture uh for example in James 4

James tells us that we are nothing but m

we're a vapor here today and gone

tomorrow he's calling us not just to an

awareness of our own mortality but a

dependence on God God is permanent God's

kingdom is permanent it's the constant

moving through human history as one

generation passes the Baton to another

you and I we are the characters who come

in and out of the story that God is

writing that should make us dependent on

him it's also true that uh mindfulness

over our own limited amount of time

actually Spurs us to faithfulness

Ephesians 5 Paul tells us that we should

make the most of our time because the

days are evil he's calling us to to live

out our faith in a way that says I have

today I don't know if I have tomorrow so

what does it look like to pursue God the

psalmist will say in Psalm 90 teach me

to number my day right he's he's saying

to God cultivate in me in Awareness of

my own death now this might sound somber

you think well well how is thinking

about death going to lead to spiritual

growth how is it going to lead to

anything other than negativity and being

somber well that makes sense in the old

Paradigm of death but of course the

gospel the whole epicenter of what we

believe about Jesus is that he has

conquered death as Paul writes about 1

Corinthians 15 Jesus shows us that death

is not final death has been defeated it

is simply the gateway to Eternity so I'm

not moments away from my life being over

and the screen going black I'm not

moments away from nothingness or

meaninglessness or purposelessness I'm

moments away from an eternity with God

where his kingdom is forever and my

participation in that kingom kingdom is

secure listen the truth is we live in a

culture that is calling us to to be

distracted to be entertained to take our

eyes off of the fact that we are going

to die and as a result our priorities

are all out of whack so here's a fun

exercise at least in response to the

Brooks article if you knew this week was

your last if you knew 2025 was your last

what would matter most listen your

answer to that question is a shifting of

your priorities a shifting of your

Paradigm in the direction that God has

always wanted you to move grab a hold of

God in faith today not just because

he'll make today better but because his

hand is the hand you'll be holding as

you cross over into death are you ready

to die being ready answering yes might

just be the key to your spiritual growth

in 2025 hey thanks so much for watching

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