阅读经文 

我去探访教会一位长老时，读了约翰福音十四章一至六节的经文，关于耶稣应许给我们预备地方。我读完后，她说她不明白耶稣为何要花这么长时间为她预备地方。她还说：“我不需要什么花哨的东西。”她不害怕死亡，反而是迫不及待地想见主。

但并非每个基督徒都不怕死。我父亲在临死前曾问道：“我死后神会接受我吗？我的生活出了那么多问题。”还有人问我说：“我会安然死去吗？”

如果你害怕死亡，那就承认吧。使徒保罗称死亡是我们“尽末了的仇敌”。我们被造是为了活着。堕落将死亡带进我们的生命。我们很自然地想要活着，而且一直活下去。所以害怕死亡是很自然的事，死亡是痛苦而可怕的——甚至是恐怖的。然而，耶稣来，就是要释放我们脱离罪和死亡的威胁。祂为我们的缘故，舍弃自己的性命，又从死里复活了，所以“死被得胜吞灭”了。（参林前 15:54）唯有主能除去我们对死亡的惧怕。

神应许我们，即使我们濒临死亡，也不用害怕，因为主与我们同在，祂必会来接我们与祂同住！

While visiting an elderly member of our church, I read the passage in John 14:1-6 where Jesus promises to prepare a place for us. When I was finished reading, she said she did not understand why it should take the Lord so long to get her place ready. She added,＂I don＇t need anything fancy.＂ Instead of being afraid of death, she could not wait to be with the Savior.

But not every Christian faces death without fear. Shortly before he died, my dad asked,＂Will God accept me when I die? So much has gone wrong in my life.＂ Someone else asked me,＂Will everything be all right when I die?＂

If you are afraid of death, be willing to admit it. The apostle Paul calls death ＂our last enemy.＂ We have been created to live. It was the fall into sin that brought death into our lives. It＇s natural for us to want to live and keep on living. So it＇s also natural to fear death, which can be painful and scary—even terrifying. But Jesus came to free us from sin and from the threat of death. He gave up his own life for our sake, and then he rose from the dead, so ＂death has been swallowed up in victory＂ (See 1 Corinthians 15:54). Only the Lord can take away our fear of death.

We have the guarantee that even as we near death, we don＇t have to be afraid because God will be there with us and will take us to live with him!