Something to Think About

From time to time, God gives me the joyous privilege to pray with a person on his or her deathbed. Most often, like happened today, I know the person is heaven-bound because of their testimony as a Christian. I know the person will close his or her eyes in death and open them immediately in the smiling presence of their Lord and Savior. I know this, even as I sit at their bedside, because they have in the past confessed their sins to Christ, and continued to do so right up to the time of our prayer.

 

The woman with whom I prayed today had the glow of Christ on her gaunt face. She had the peace of Christ as she struggled to speak – a glow and a peace that only another Christian can understand.

 

As we closed our time together, I said to Monica – as I often say to those like her so close to death – “When you see Jesus, after a while with Him, tell Him I said ‘Hello.’

 

She smiled and whispered she would.

 

Over the years (I’m now in my 70s), I’ve been at the bedside of many people in varying stages of dying. And I want to say this as clearly as I can:

 

NO ONE dies as well as a Christian full of confidence that they’re going to the Lover of their soul. I’ve never witnessed ANYONE who dies as well as those with a faithful and assured ANTICIPATION of soon running into the welcoming arms of their Savior.

 

I know Jesus knows that I told her to tell Him I said, ‘Hello.” I know He knows that because, well, because He’s God and He arranged our meeting today.

 

But, here is the important point of all this: What does Jesus know about YOU? What will be YOUR thoughts as you lay on your deathbed awaiting your last breath? Will the person at your bedside be able to say to you, “Tell Jesus I said ‘Hello’?  Will that person be able to say it because he or she will know from your life-testimony that you are truly a child of God, that you have obeyed Jesus to the best of your ability?

 

Something to think about – isn’t it?