On your death day

Death and sin are directly related. The Apostle Paul implicitly states this in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Without sin there would be no death. God didn’t create any life with limited durability. Jesus Himself is the true life (John 14:6) and whomever thinks that true life occurs between birth and death has not understood anything at all. Whomever considers the evil, unrighteousness, godlessness and lies which has happened over and over since the beginning of time, as life in the true sense, is impoverished and very short-sighted. No doubt there are also things which can sometimes make our lives more bearable here (otherwise this here would be a daily hell), however with regard to positive, fulfilling truth, bliss, peace and righteousness, one normally understands something different and better. Alone the fact that one gets sick and eventually must die, justifies the fact that this world is basically just a preparation for the inevitable. At the moment of our birth, we are already heading towards death. And for some it comes earlier than expected or planned. When the day of our death comes, a lot of people experience a change in their emotions. It is a common expression that the last shirt has no pockets! Maybe one comes to the realization, when the end approaches, that one leaves the earth as one entered it – naked! Man has a soul – and if the shell stops functioning, one dies at some point.

At that moment, or the period between life and impending death, one often thinks about things and surely wonders if there is life after death and if God exists? Then one cannot merely be indifferent and say that it doesn’t interest you or you will think about it later. When one feels that death is eminent, then one’s mind goes to that which has been bottled up and questions which have been repressed, ignored, argued about or laughed at throughout one’s life, become at once very pressing. Man has eternity in him as it were, and he instinctively knows that life does not end with death. We read in Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He hath made every thing beautiful in His time: also He hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” Whoever dies in his unforgiven sins, has to answer to God Himself – without an Advocate, without a Redeemer. And that will not work, because salvation and the forgiveness of sin is not negotiable. It is grace! And access to this grace, which is only found in Jesus Christ and the Gospel (John 3:16 and 14:6), is the sincere faith! Whomever has the opportunity, prior to his death, to approach God’s Son and ask for forgiveness, should also do so without delay. Many may not have this opportunity (accident, heart-attack etc.). God speaks to us (inter alia in the Bible) – whether we are well and living or are dying – we should listen! We read in Psalm 95:7-8 “To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart...” Amen.

Jörg Bauer