August 5 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

We are only people. The Bible calls us beings of flesh and blood. That expression reminds us that we are weak and mortal. For flesh and blood, no desire is stronger than the desire to live, and no fear is greater than the fear of death.

We try hard to cover our fears, but we are never quite successful. Death is our constant companion. But we never get used to him. We "cannot live with him." In order to live a "normal life," we must suppress the knowledge that death is only a breath away.

We don't have to try so hard to cover our fears. Our desires for life and our fears of death rightfully belong to flesh and blood. We are not being sinful if we don't want to die; we are being human. And even God does not ask more of us than that we be perfectly human.

The eternal Son of God became a Son of man. He shared in our flesh and blood, and he shared our human nature. He existed as we exist with a desire to live and a fear of death.

But his existence and his death have made a great difference for our existence and our approaching death. Jesus has not taken death away. Flesh and blood must still die. But Jesus has made death his own tool. For all who trust him, Christ has taken the fear out of dying.

Since Christ has lived our kind of life and died our kind of death, things have changed. Through death, Christ has destroyed him who had the power of death—that is, the devil. That triumph has changed our flesh-and-blood way of living. Death is not the cave where the devil's prisoners go. It's a narrow passage through which we go to be with Christ.

Now Christ begins to make our lives free from fear and full of faith. And when the last day comes, he will give us the full assurance that we will move nearer to him.

REFLECTIONS

How does Christ becoming "flesh and blood" help you face your own death?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.