JDL - Direction Forty-six - I Am Dying, What Do I Need to Do?

And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31 (ESV))

Abby was dying of cancer. She felt some pain in her body, but she did not know from what. She did not know she had cancer until she went to the doctor and had some tests done. The doctor tested her, and when he had the results, he sat down with her and they talked about what was happening to her. Abby had some decisions to make concerning her cancer and her health. How could the doctor help her to get better? What did she need to do to get better? Was there something she needed to do right away?

When we think about our health, or the health of our loved ones for that matter, we often ask many questions. What did I do to get myself sick? What can I stop or start doing to get well? Very often we put off going to the doctor because we do not want to know that we are sick. Sometimes we even put off getting help.

As human beings, we have something worse than cancer. We are all dying. We are dying of sin. We come to church, we read our Bibles, and the conclusion is always the same. We are dying of sin. What do we do? Do we put off changing our ways? Do we put off and refuse forgiveness? Do we put off getting help? Do we put off going to church or reading our Bible in the first place because we do not want to know we are sick with sin?

When we see the doctor we are not outraged when the doctor tells us we need to stop doing something, or start doing something if we intend to get better physically. Why is it that if our pastor or any fellow Christian suggests we stop sinning, we are outraged? “Why should I stop what I am doing?” we ask, “I am not hurting anyone else, and besides it is my decision and right to do what I want to do.”

The difference in these two scenarios is the difference between life and death. Physical death is temporal. Eternal spiritual death is forever. In the case of our own physical health, we will want to do all we can to stay healthy, but even so, death will come. In the case of our own spiritual health, we tend to leave that for another time. Yet, we will die physically, and we will face the judgment of the Lord sooner than we know and sooner than we expect. We tend to think that this world is more important than the world to come.

My prayer is that we would come to an understanding that the world to come is forever and is certainly more important than this world which is for a mere second. And with that understanding, then we will focus our lives on the world to come.

It is only with Jesus helping and directing our lives that we can focus, not on this world, but on the world to come. It is only as we make regular and diligent use of the means which our Lord gives to come to us, His Word, the Bible and His Sacraments, remembering our Baptism and participating in the Lord’s Supper, that He can come to us and direct us and as He promises, so He will do so.

Think About
What are you doing for your physical health? What are you doing for your spiritual health? Are you ready to meet Jesus?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your gift of spiritual health. Forgive us when we fail to recognize our sin and our need for Your forgiveness. Help us to always seek to keep You and our relationship with You first in our lives, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.