Posted February 03, 2026
For those who are ready for winter to be over, the bad news is that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday, predicting six more weeks of polar vortexes and misery for millions. The good news is that, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Phil is among the least reliable of all groundhog prognosticators, coming in at 35 percent accuracy. By this measure, if you want an early spring, you’re glad Phil predicted a long winter.
He’s not, however, the only forecaster in the news today.
The National Center for Health Statistics is reporting that US life expectancy has hit an all-time high. Their studies indicate that if you’re a woman, you can expect to live 81.4 years; men can expect a lifespan of 76.5 years.
For some people, however, this good news is not good enough. A recent MIT Technology Review headline invites us to “Meet the Vitalists: the hardcore longevity enthusiasts who believe death is ‘wrong.’” According to them, humanity has an “incredible moral duty” to “extend lifespan indefinitely.” While they admit that there is no current way to make death obsolete, that’s their goal.
Here’s my confession: part of me wishes they had already succeeded.
I know that I will go to heaven when I die. I know that this life cannot begin to compare with that life and that after one instant on that side, I’ll be eternally glad I’m there (cf. Revelation 21:4). I know that I could die at any moment and find myself in Jesus’ presence (Hebrews 9:27), and that he could appear at any moment in ours (Acts 1:11).
But in full transparency, I don’t want that day to be this day.
I have more I want to do in this life. I want to reach more people with God’s word. I want to see my grandchildren grow up. I want to experience more of the beauty of this incredible world and die when I have nothing more to give. And I’d rather not suffer on the way to my death, and emphatically do not want those I love to suffer on the way to theirs.
If someone could abolish death but enable us to step from this world into the next when we’re ready, this would seem to be the best of both options.
Does any of this resonate with you?
At this point, you’re probably wishing I would discuss something more practical. It’s inconceivable that medical science will ever abolish death entirely. And we could still die from disasters and accidents, murders and mayhem.
Given Job’s wealth, his children presumably lived in the most secure structure possible for their day, but they nonetheless perished in a “great wind” (Job 1:1–2, 5, 18–19). What happened to them can happen to us as well. I will always remember visiting the original World Trade Center in New York City, for example. The “Twin Towers” were so tall that I could not see their top from where I stood. It never occurred to me that they could one day be destroyed by terrorists flying airplanes into them.
But while there is no plausible way death will ever be eradicated from our fallen world, this conversation is eminently practical, despite its implausibility, for a deeply significant reason.
Hebrews 2 explains the purpose of Jesus’ crucifixion this way: “that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (vv. 14–15, my emphasis). All fear can enslave us (Romans 8:15), but the “fear of death” most of all.
Why is this?
If you’re afraid to die, you’re “enslaved” to whatever you believe will keep you from dying, whether it’s the medicines you’re taking, the diet and exercise regimen you’re following, or the dangers you’re avoiding. If you fall off the mortality treadmill, you can’t get back on.
Even if you believe as I do that your eternity is secure in Christ, you can worry that your earthly life will end before you want it to. In this sense, you’re subliminally skeptical of God’s providence, unsure that he’ll allow you to live as long as you want to live. This fear can enslave us to this world as we seek to make the most of our days here, since we are unsure that another day will come.
Jesus’ death frees us from such slavery in two ways.
For those who are afraid to die: Our Savior’s death purchased our salvation and now provides the sure and certain passage to eternal life we seek. In fact, in the moment we make him our Lord, we “have eternal life” (John 3:16). We are immortal from that day forward and need to have no fear of death, knowing that it is but the doorway from this world to the next. In a very real sense, we simply step out of the car and go into the house (cf. John 14:2).
For those who are afraid to die yet, Jesus’ atonement offers a second benefit: We can trust that a Savior who loves us enough to die for us can only want what is best for us. His paradise is indescribably better than the best of this fallen world: “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Being with Christ in heaven is therefore “far better” than life on this fallen planet (Philippians 1:23).
But we need to remember that we can trust God not only with our destination at death but also with its timing. When we live in his “perfect” will (Romans 12:2), our homegoing must be best for us and also for those we love. Even though they may not know it at the time, one day they will understand why Jesus took us to himself when he did (John 14:3; 1 Corinthians 13:12). In that moment, so will we.
So we can live free from the fear of death, secure in the assurance that our Father will take us home however and whenever is best. Consequently, we can engage our culture redemptively and courageously, knowing that the worst that can happen to us can lead only to the best that can happen to us. (For more, please see my new website article, “Should I have watched the Grammys? A reflection on cultural engagement and spiritual purity.”)
Ronald Reagan observed,
“Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid.”
Let’s make evil “powerless” today, to the glory of God.
“It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.” —A. A. Hodge
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