Fearing God and Death

This one sort of ties into a previous post of mine on Assured Salvation. Sunday at church, the Bishop was giving main sermon. His main topic was fearing God and how it does us some good to fear God because if we fear God, then it will help us want to do what is right and obey God's commands. He gave several examples in the Bible of those who obeyed God out of fear, one being Abraham when he took his son to sacrifice him for God because that is what he was instructed to do.

This lead into a converstaion the Bishop had with an Old Order Amish man a little while back about how the Amish man feared death because he did not know where he was going to go. In essence, the Bishop said, this man's fear of God was so great that he feared to meet God upon his death. The Bishop linked this to the Amish's belief that one does not know where he will end up upon death until he is told by God. **This is for the Amish around where I live, I realize not all Amish believe this, but this is how this Amish group believes.** He continued saying if anyone was so fearful of God because of his or her past sins to die that we could repent and know exactly where we will go. I understand the church that I have been attending does believe in assured salvation, but as I said before, it is something that I do not believe in. But, nor do I believe that we should be afraid of God so much that we do not want to die. I am perfectly fine not knowing for sure where I will end up when I die, of course I would love to be welcomed into God's Kingdom, and that is what I strive for in my daily life, but I will not say where I will end up upon my death -- I do not believe it is my place to say so. I will admit, there was a time when not knowing scared me, but as I have grown, I appreciate not knowing. I know what I need to do in order to be welcomed into Heaven, but I also know that sin and temptation are constantly around the corner and if I stumble or fall into the trap of sin, I may not have enough time to climb back out before I die.

Blessings in Christ,