“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him…” (Job 13:15a)

So where will your life end? Will you reach the highest peaks, dance just beneath the clouds, and celebrate your death in exuberant joy and ecstasy? Or will you go kicking and screaming – afraid of God’s judgment and wrath?

I’ve never had the privilege of being in the same room with a fellow believer at the moment of death – when the spirit passes from this life to our heavenly home. But I have conversed with several brothers and sisters in Christ hours or days before their departure. Those forgiven Christians who knew their end was near accepted it with grace, and yet held onto hope that they might be granted healing and extended life here on earth.

Most of us don’t get advance notice of departure. We just want to be ready.

The apostle Paul said He would rather be face to face with Jesus than to remain here, but was content to be wherever God wanted him to be. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 11:21, NIV)

As I contemplate what my death will be like, I hope when it is my time to depart, I will be able to celebrate my life. I want to do all the good works God prepared for me to do. I hope when it is my time to go, I can say with St. Paul that I have “fought the good fight and run the race that was set before me” – with exuberance, with tenacity, with joy, with endurance, and with great love for God and for the people He put in my life.

However long God allows us to live should we not live as if the time is short? Have you
“numbered your days” (recognized your mortality) and gained a heart of wisdom? Are your
actions, attitudes, thoughts and words grounded in an eternal perspective? Where are you
investing your life, your time, your energy, and your focus? Are you making regular deposits into the First Everlasting Bank in the New Jerusalem? Or do you work for money and things that will soon be destroyed by rust, decay or ultimately by God’s consuming fire? Have you even opened your free account?

Jesus has made a deposit that will last for all eternity in your name. All you have to do is accept His gift and trust His Word: “I am going to prepare a place for you.” Whether Jesus returns before you die and you meet Him in the sky, or whether you pass through death to eternal life – are you prepared for your departure? Are you living each day for Jesus?