I recently spoke with
a man who is dying. Correction – every person I speak with is dying. As is the
man in the mirror. However, this man knows he is dying and what he is likely to
die from. In a matter of months, a strong and vigorous man has become terminal.
A great day for him now is to walk to the end of the street and back, eat three
times daily and have bowel motions. Soon enough even those days will be
memories for him and then for his surviving family.
He is a Christian man.
He has been of faith for many years and has given distinguished service over
many years at high levels of church leadership.
He appreciates appreciation
for his church service but, as he says, ‘we are saved by grace not works’ and ‘all
that matters is that Christ died for me’.
He does not want to
die yet and is not looking forward to the process of dying. However, he is sure
of his destiny because he knows who holds it and who chose him before creation,
brought him to faith, nurtured faith into discipleship and discipleship into
service.
He is not afraid. Not
angry. Nor despondent. Rather he is abounding in life. So much so that in
speaking I was able to say, ‘for a dying man you sound very well.’ He does not
expect the Lord to deliver him from death but has unshakeable confidence
that He will deliver him through death.
And so, he has the
sure and certain hope of which Scripture speaks (Heb 6:19). He does not brush his
death aside with mindless platitudes, deny it, try to escape it with
mindfulness, nor yield to despair. These medicines of unbelief hold no appeal,
for the gospel is his tonic.
That is a living faith
in a dying man.
No comments:
Post a Comment