Fear Factor...

What are you afraid of? What scares the bejeezes out of you most? Some people like my wife are afraid of insects like grasshoppers or cockroaches, I'm afraid of snakes and most spiders; some people are afraid of heights or flying. Do you ever sit down and wonder why we get scared of things like this? My wife is afraid of bugs because she was traumatized as a kid by her cousin sticking a grasshopper down her shirt and she couldn't get it out. She's not afraid of them because they might kill her she just has a negative reaction when she sees one because it brings back a bad memory of her childhood. I'm not afraid of snakes because I have been bitten by one but I have a good imagination and I can just picture one biting me in my leg and I can see it dangling there on my leg while I freak out in horror; just the thought of that makes me cringe and feel a little sick to my stomach. Other people are afraid of things because of real reasons like a fear of dying; this is more along the lines of what I want to talk about right now. Why are people so afraid of death?
People in general are afraid of what they don't know or understand. We don't know what's on the other side of the curtain of this life so we do anything and everything we can to avoid it for as long as possible; especially in the United States. People spend more money in the US on plastic surgery, anti-aging creams, botox, vitamins and specialty foods than most small countries probably do on food. It's an addiction to staying "young looking" and avoiding the signs of death which is what aging causes. People try to put the thought of death out of their minds and never think about it unless someone they know passes away or someone close to them and even then as soon as they can they push the thought to the back of their minds and go on about their lives like it is never going to end. I'm all for planning for the future and being responsible but denying your age by spending tons of money on fake body parts to live a lie is a little ridiculous. Americans, especially, have turned looks and our outward appearance into an idol that we worship on a daily basis. Just go to your local grocery store and look on the magazine rack and tell me what you find. You will see half naked women on every cover dressed provocatively luring you into buying their magazine because they can show you how to take 20 years off your face with a new diet and magical creams. Everywhere you look they are advertising some new miracle drug or something to make you look younger than you really are. Have you ever stopped to think about why this is and why everyone is so obsessed with this? It's because they are afraid of dying for one and they don't want to accept the fact that as they get older their body's begin to wear out and they are slowly dying everyday; we all are from the moment we were born. That's not a negative statement it's just the facts. We all only have a certain amount of time on this earth and we have to do the best we can with what we are given. God made each and every one of us the way we were supposed to be made with a specific purpose in mind; God don't make no junk! The other reason Americans are obsessed with looking young is because they have idolized SEX in this country. Sex has become an idol that everyone worships. Pornography is more easily accessible now than ever before, every major movie has multiple sex scenes in it now, we sell soft porn magazines in grocery store isles now like Maxim and FHM and we have idolized movie stars and singers who do nothing except get wasted drunk or abuse some kind of drugs and try to see who can wear the least amount of clothing as possible. The young girls of this country are being allowed to dress just like these people and they want to be just like them; they are their role models for crying out loud. It's disgusting!!! Sex has been made to be an idol in this country and it has slowly made it's way into everything it can and it's has become acceptable to a point that we are almost calloused to it by now. And people wonder why there are so many sexual crimes being committed by young boys and why women have been reduced to sex objects; the very thing that the feminists of the 60's tried to overturn. Men of this country have been reduced to stupid pathetic creatures who only want to have sex and drink beers and watch TV. The male role models aren't much better if you ever turn on the TV and see the stupid antics of a typical father on a TV show. Most of them are neglecting their families, drinking beer's in front of the TV and making jokes about it all. Everybody laughs and has a good time but it doesn't show what really is going on in America with the lack of Positive Role Models for boys to show them how to be real MEN and what a real man is which is loving, compassionate, caring and responsible for himself and for anybody who can't stick up for themselves including his family. It's a despicable act of deception that has been played on the entire American population and one that we have all fallen for. We have lost our way and we have lost our core values and morals. We have lost the hope and joy that comes from knowing where we are going to go when we die so we don't have to be afraid of death. If you have faith and a relationship with Jesus Christ, God's son, you don't have to worry about what happens to you when you die because you know you are going to spend eternity in heaven.
Death is something that we all have to deal with at one point or another. It's something that can't be avoided no matter how much you try to reverse the effects of the aging process; it keeps coming like a freight train down the tracks of life. It's an easy thing to do in this country to go along with the flow like everyone else and try to ignore it and do everything you can to keep it from happening or you can acknowledge it and figure out what you're going to do about it. Figuring out where you want to spend eternity is a serious question to ponder. Figuring out what you believe and what you don't, searching for meaning in this life instead of just playing life like it's a game; really looking for something more out of life and discovering what we are here for. The bible says if you seek you will find what you are looking for. God will never let you down and a sincere heart that is searching after the God of the universe will find Him because He will make Himself available to be known. It's a choice we all must make; we will either search after the real meaning of this life or we will just play along like everyone else and avoid the hard questions and try to pretend we are going to live forever with no consequences or life after death. Figure out where you stand in the grand scheme of things. There are 2 worlds that we live in. There is the visible world which is the world around us, the material world. Then there's the invisible world which is the spirit world, the world beyond the material world where God lives and works and where we go after we die. The bible says in Matthew 7; "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek will find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened for them." All you have to do is go looking for God and you will find Him because He has been waiting for you all along. He's never far away, He's always with you all you have to do is look for Him and you will never be disappointed. Jesus said for us to Fear Not, Take Courage and Take Heart because our Father is always with us and He will never forsake us or let us down. Jesus promised that He was going to prepare a place for us in His fathers house and that He would be coming back for us soon. There's no need to fear death because you have a savior waiting to take you home, all you have to do is have faith and trust Him to save you. Gods Blessings to you today.