5/3/08
Mortimeriados (1596) is first credited with giving us the proverb which states that a coward dies a thousand deaths but the valiant only once. Shakespeare uses this thought in Julius Caesar.
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Yeshua stated in Matt. 16:25 If you want to save your life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find it. CEV
As a Believer in Yeshua I find we are called to die a thousand deaths on this side. We are to die to the fleshly elements, the demonic controls, attitudes…any impediment that would keep us from living as Yeshua did. Yet even in this we are called to do more than live like He did; we are called to allow Him to live in us. This is death of control. The deaths I speak of are physical but do not separate spirit from the body. The enemy of our soul would seek to separate not just body from the spirit but our spirits from our soul; thus enabling him to inhabit aka possess us or live out his agenda through us.
Yeshua is not saying He wants us to die a mortal death but to die to our way of life which is by birth associated with sin since the time of the fall. Yeshua came to redeem the world from the fall and in doing this He made available to us the ability to die to sin, to its consequences and to live in Him, through Him and by Him.
This can’t be accomplished by works (Eph 2:9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. MKJV. The CEV says: It isn't something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about.) The curse as a result of sin was for man to work by the sweat of his brow. If we could work it up not only could we try and boast of our achievement but we would be doing what the curse brought upon us thinking it would make us worthy of being brought out from under the curse.
I know that most assume that Mortimeriados and Shakespeare were speaking of the fear, the cowardice which causes one to die emotionally over and over again in their writings. In my opinion those who have risen above this fear of not only death but of really living life will only suffer the death of the mortal body which we as Believers in Yeshua understand leads to a resurrected body again, one like His (2Tim 1:10 But it is now having been manifested by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has made death of no effect, bringing life and immortality to light through the gospel; MKJV The CEV states it this way: Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won't die or decay).
Embracing a thousand deaths or however many there are to be embraced in this life is really simply a walking toward resurrection. Each time we allow a bit more of Yeshua to shine through our lives we come to find that we are becoming more and more alive to this world, to the here and now as well as preparing for the next. In fact these deaths are actually resurrections if you look at them in the right way. They are resurrections of the lives we were intended to live before the fall, before sin, before mortal death even came into being.
I have been on a journey one that I hope is getting closer to its destination and it is based on the premise: Christ in me, the hope of glory. Col 1:27b And the mystery is that Christ lives in you, and He is your hope of sharing in God's glory. CEV
For to me to live is Christ and to die well that is truly gain…
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