I really had no clue that I was going to die today. I hadn’t scheduled it or set a reminder. It wasn’t something I had even been thinking about. Yet, here I am, dead. I knew eventually it would happen, but not like this. I had wanted to go peacefully in my sleep at some undetermined but appropriate age—at an age when I had all my affairs in order, nothing left undone or unsaid. I wanted to go out with a room full of family members around me, mourning my loss, yet mature enough to know that this is part of life. I wanted to share some final last words of wisdom with grandchildren or even great-grandchildren. What I experienced was nothing like that slow and peaceful final breath that is acted out on TV sitcoms.
I was sitting in some overpriced high-end hamburger joint with a catchy name. Not the kind of place I’d be in if I was paying. But someone had invited me out, and they suggested it—big mistake. I was halfway through this grass fed lean meat camel burger when I started choking. I mean really choking. I stood up trying to breath. Nothing! I did the motions, but nobody tried to help. I took a knee as I gasped violently for air. Still nothing. I fell to the floor writhing, feet kicking, and my hands at my throat. No one seemed alarmed. With my vision narrowing, I could just make out people pointing phones at me to record the horror. The last thing I felt was the cold hard floor, then nothing. There was no decorum of an aged man swaddled in a hospital bed. Just a middle-aged guy sprawled out on the floor surrounded by strangers. Meer witnesses to a time of death, nothing more.
What will yours be like? I know you have an expectation of when, where and how. But are you ready? We all want that peaceful nod off into eternity, but not everyone gets their full four score and a few more. What are you doing to make the most of what you have? I’m not talking about, “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die” or YOLO (Isa. 22:13). I am talking about really living, “that [you] may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). I am finding out so much about life now that I’m dead. I died with people that could’ve helped just watching. Little did I know then that I had been dead a lot longer than that, spiritually speaking. People that could’ve said something just watched me die a slow spiritual death. I know that I had my own part to play in my actions, that I was “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). Don’t just hope that it will work itself out. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (Jas. 4:8a). “Strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble and make straight paths for your feet” (Heb. 12:12-13a). Make real plans to put your spiritual life in order so that whenever you die you are ready. “Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27).