Tucker Carlson recently gave the keynote address at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s 70th Anniversary Gala.

He spoke contemplatively about the importance of bravery in facing our modern cultural moment. He also soberly reflected on the benefit of pondering one’s own death.

“The person who is brave, wins. Period,” Tucker said. “And in a moment like this, the stakes are higher.”

[The stakes are] do you want your children to be able to live here? Do you want to have grandchildren at all?

And if you’re not brave, that won’t happen.

“So, be brave,” Carlson exhorted, adding,

And by the way, there’s nothing easier.

The key to being brave is brooding about death.

He went on to observe that much anxiety and fear is caused by “know[ing life] is going to end on some level.”

“No one can acknowledge the core truth of life, which is that it ends,” Carlson added.

You can watch a longer version of Tucker’s remarks here:

There’s a lot of truth in Carlson’s observations. Here are three things to consider from Tucker’s remarks.

Be Unafraid

It’s an often-repeated refrain that there are only two things that are certain in life: death and taxes.

The one who acknowledges the inevitably of death and overcomes their fear of if by the grace of God, is able to face the world head on.

What’s the worst that the world can do to someone who isn’t afraid to die?

As Christians, we know that death does not have the final world. We have hope in Jesus Christ and in sharing eternal life with the Blessed Trinity. We know “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17, ESV).

By His crucifixion, Christ defeated death and delivers us from fear.

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, 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” (Hebrews 2:14-15, ESV).

Live Righteously

There’s an ancient Christian eschatological practice of meditating on the Four Last Things: Death, The Final Judgement, Heaven and Hell.

Philip Neri, a 16th-century a priest who is venerated by both the Catholic Church and the Church of England, once wrote,

“Beginners in religion ought to exercise themselves principally in meditation on the Four Last Things. … An excellent method of preserving ourselves from relapsing into serious faults, is to say every evening, ‘Tomorrow I may be dead.’”

No one enjoys thinking about death. But it’s an inevitable reality that, if we spend more time contemplating, puts many of the small difficulties and trifles we face in this life in perspective.

Pondering our own deaths also remind us that sin – though it may appear tempting and pleasing – is not worth it. The love of Christ and life in Him is infinitely better.

Have Hope

The 1851 hymn “Crown Him with Many Crowns,” penned by Matthew Bridges and Godfrey Thring, beautifully proclaims the victory of Christ over death.

For those of us who may be watching loved ones suffer and die, as we all will at some point in our lives, Christ’s victory over death is something we should all take to heart.

In Christ, we have hope – both in this life and in the life to come.

Crown him the Lord of life,
who triumphed o’er the grave,
and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save;

his glories now we sing
who died and rose on high,
who died eternal life to bring,
and lives that death may die.

Related articles and resources:

Focus on the Family: Faith

Tucker Carlson: Having Children is Life’s Greatest Joy

Tucker Carlson Starts Reading Scripture and Discovers These Two Truths

Tucker Carlson is Right: We’re in a Spiritual Battle to Restore Our Nation

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