A life or death issue

After visiting someone in a hospital, I got lost trying to find my way back to the main entrance. I found myself in the oncology (cancer treatment) unit. Several patients were in the hallway. Some were walking, some in wheelchairs and one on a rolling bed. The man lying on the bed said hello to me, so I returned the greeting.

As I started to pass by him, he asked me this question: “So what IS life, anyway?”

I stopped, scrambling to find something helpful to say to this man lying on a rolling bad in the hallway of a hospital cancer treatment unit.

He smiled, looked me straight in the eye, and repeated his question, “So what IS life, anyway?”

I gave the first answer that came to me, “It’s being able to make a difference, even in a small way, that shows just how much God loves us.”

He sighed, “Well, I suppose I can still do that, but probably not for long. So what then?”

I looked a bit closer. His physical body was reduced to skeletal form, but his eyes, his eyes glowed with a deep and compelling presence.

“Well,” I said, “Then you get to experience real life. You’ll be done with this introduction chapter and ready for the rest of the story. And that part lasts forever.”

He smiled. Tears of joy trickled from the corners of his eyes. “I knew it! This can’t be all there is. No way. It’s all true then; real life is just beginning. Thanks, my new friend. Thank you and thank you again.”

No, I thought, Thank YOU for the reminder. What an amazing man I met that day.

Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death. (John 8:51)

I never learned the man’s name. It really didn’t matter. God spoke into my life that day with a reminder of true, eternal life priorities. It really is a “life or death” issue.

If we live our lives as if this earthly life is all we’ve got, or it’s the most important thing we have, we’re missing the experience of true, real life.

Who would read the introduction of a book and then throw the rest away, especially if the rest of the book was all about the experience of amazing, eternal grace and joy?

Jesus was issuing an invitation to the people that day, an invitation to real, true life of eternal grace and joy with God. But they steadfastly insisted on clinging to the earthly portion of their lives as the most important.

The rules and ways of believing and behaving also focused on, and prioritized, life’s “introduction” so thoroughly that when the guide to heaven appeared in their midst they not only did not recognize Him, they repeatedly looked for ways to destroy Him. Yet, even when they thought they’d succeeded, true, eternal life won.

When I met that man in the hallway, he reminded me, “keeping the Word” means living our lives as if we’re moving through the introduction here on earth toward the “rest of the story” in heaven with Him.

In the end, true, eternal life always wins. And it really is a life or death issue.