There are many ways to die. This past week four people died in a terrible traffic accident on I-4 caused by blinding smoke and fog. Witnesses were horrified as they listened helplessly to the screams of victims trapped in burning vehicles. It was a horrible way to die. Adding to the horror of these deaths is the nagging issue that they were unnecessary. These people shouldn't have died this way. It strikes us as a waste.
Being a pastor has brought me into the realm of death on many and various occasions. Disease, accidents, and old age have taken their toll. While I understand that death is the "gate through which the righteous enter" eternal life with Christ, I remember only one instance in which I thought that the person's death was worth dying. It was for a soldier who was killed in action in Iraq. Whatever other people think about this war, this man was convinced that he was serving there to protect us here. His life was laid down for the sake of others. That, despite the heartbreak that it brings to loved ones, is a death worth dying. But if the cause for which he laid down his life is lost or abandoned, then his death was not a death worth dying.
We know that Jesus died His death to win the victory over sin, death, and hell. He did not fail in His quest, but by His death He won forgiveness and eternal life for us. His death was worth dying. In Holy Baptism God joins us to the death of Jesus and puts us to death. Of course, the death we die in Baptism is a spiritual death not a physical death. Nonetheless, it is a real death in which we die to sin, the world, and our very selves. It is a death that sets us free — a death that makes us alive in Christ. It is most definitely a death worth dying.
Baptismal death brings us Baptismal life. In this new life we are no longer slaves to sin. So what shall we do when we stumble back into disobedience? What recourse is there to us when sin gains the upper hand in our new lives in Christ? How can we live for Jesus when our evil nature rules over us? God's answer is daily Baptism, to die the death worth dying over and over again to be alive in Christ.
