Living to die well

Everybody wants to get the most out of life, to make sure that nothing good passes them by. They want to live to the full, to make every day count, to move closer to their dreams every day. But is this why we have the short breath of our lives given to us–to fill it to the brim with stuff and busyness? That would be like reducing a race to the mere steps along the way and caring nothing for the finish line. Who enters a race with no thought of actually finishing, and finishing well? Shouldn’t we stop and think about how we plan to end this thing called life? Shouldn’t we consider what kind of living would ensure that we die well? 

I was looking through some past photos the other day and came across a memorable photo I took of a lady in my church when she was told that her cancer treatments had been exhausted and it was time to go home on hospice. It was in the hospital and she was surrounded by her husband, daughters, parents, siblings, and in-laws. The smile on her face, for such an hour as she faced, is remarkable. I will never forget the way she responded to the news.

Of course it was hard to hear. Of course it was sad. There were tears on the cheeks of many. Yet, she was okay. The prospect of death was not a daunting one to her. She’d enjoyed the many months of life gained by her treatments and now that it was time to prepare for death she was okay with it. She was ready to die. Why? Because she’d lived to die well.

She’d lived by faith in Christ as Saviour and could now die by the same faith. She’d lived with an eye to death and was not at all daunted as it finally approached. She’d lived expecting death, preparing for death–even looking forward to it, and now welcomed it. It was a profound testimony to her husband, her family, her church, and even to the medical professionals who’d cared for her. Her funeral provided its own testimony and evangelistic appeal to all who attended and knew how well she’d died. Surely, many that day said as Balaam said in Num 23.10, “Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!”

But the sobering truth is this: none can or will die the death of the upright but those who live the life of the upright. A good end is the necessary result of a good beginning as well as a good way. Upon Christ’s own words, a bad beginning, together with a bad way, will never end well (Mt 12.33). That dear sister in Christ had lived a life of faith in the Lord Jesus. She’d committed her life to Him, lived by faith upon Him, loved Him, followed Him, walked in His ways, rested in Him, and trusted in His promise to meet her at death, carry her through death, and live with her forever beyond death.

This, then, is what it means to live well; it is to live to die well. No life whatsoever is worth living that isn’t a life lived in preparation for life’s certain end and the unending eternity beyond it. Every life lived without an eye to that is a living death that will one day very suddenly be swallowed up by an endless horror.

I thank God for that lady’s testimony. And it was one of the most powerful memorial services I’ve had the privilege of officiating. Her’s was truly a home-going; and the testimony left behind for her family, friends, and church cannot be easily forgotten.

But I can’t help but wonder how many actually profited from it. It was all very impressive. But impressions, however strong at the moment, will be lost if not diligently improved upon. I wonder how many were merely impressed and touched, but never changed. I wonder how many even now will remember it with fondness but have yet to begin to live well themselves. The lesson was set before them, as on the chalkboard, but they never actually learned it. They’re no more ready to die today than they were then. They’re no more living well now than they were before she died. How sad it will be for those who read the lesson and witnessed her example but never took it to heart.

How about you. Are you living well? If you’re living to die well, then you most certainly are. But if the way you live is not determinatively shaped by your coming death and the eternity beyond it, then you’re not living well at all and your death will be most unwelcome when it comes. To die well you must begin today to live well, to live by faith in Jesus Christ, who overcame death and removed its sting for all those who live for Him.

May the Lord grant us a solid faith in Jesus, that we may have the wherewithal to live, while we live, and the wherewithal to die, when we come to die.