Day of the DeadBrian Heasley - 31 Oct 2012

Today people all over the world are celebrating Día de los Muertos (The day of the dead) - a Mexican holiday about remembering the dead.

As Christians our faith is built around death and resurrection, yet how do we view death? Are we good at it! Are we good at dying?

An ancient American Indian, upon entering battle, would turn to his companions and say “today is a good day to die”. In times of prayer we are often confronted with areas of our lives that we need to put to death! Our sin, our consumerism, our apathy and our ill discipline rise up and haunt us! It is almost as if in times of intimacy the Lord would say to us “today is a good day to die!”  We become aware of how un-godly we are, as we look at Christ our sin is reflected back at us, and in that moment there is hope!

Paul spoke of Christ in Romans 5:

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We become aware of Christ’s sacrifice for us! Whilst we were still sinners he died for us! On this, the 'day of the dead', it is good to remember the death that brought us life.
Remembrance is good, speaking as one who lost his mother at a young age it is good to remember. It is good to look back on the lives of those who have had an impact on us and are no longer with us, to celebrate the impact of the departed is healthy.

But it is also good to remember the sin that once held us and live celebrating the freedom that we now have in Christ who overcame death and is very much alive.

Romans 6: 

“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.  The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.”

“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.  Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace”

So, on this day, let's once again offer ourselves to God, let us allow his Grace to extend to us and die to the sin that so easily entangles us.

Feature image is a derivative of the image '365.041 - Grim Reaper' by FailedImitator  and is used by permission in accordance with commons copyright license terms.