My wife Linda and I were sitting by my ninety-five year old aunt’s bed. She had suffered a heart attack several days ago. Her condition had worsened over the past few hours; she was struggling to breathe as her lungs were slowly filling up with fluid because of her failing heart. I was thinking to myself how long she had lived. She was born in December 1913, and what amazing things she had witnessed in her life. Going from horse and buggy to regular space flights. Then I remember James 4:14 Which says “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even as a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanisheth away.” This verse made me realize that ninety five years is actually a very short time when compared to eternity. I thought about my aunt and uncle’s lives, and felt good. You may question how anybody could feel good when you are watching someone slowly die. The reason for my happy feeling was that I knew that my aunt had obeyed the gospel at a very young age, and served the Lord her entire life. A few days before her heart attack she told some one that she was ready to go home, I knew exactly what she meant. She was not talking about going back to the house that she and my uncle lived in; she was talking about going home to be with the Lord.
Aunt Claire and her husband, Uncle Ed, who passed away 5 years ago, had been married 63 years. They both had made a decision to serve the Lord all the days of their life. They kept this vow. Although she never said how much she missed my uncle, because of her failing mind, I know she missed him very much. They never were blessed with children; they only had each other and their Christian family.
Linda and I decided it was getting late. We would go home and return to her bedside tomorrow. We left our loved one with the very caring Hospice nurse. Early the next morning I receive a phone call from the facility that my Aunt had passed away. Linda and I did not shed many tears because we knew that she had departed from her old worn out 95 year old body. She was now living peaceful in Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22).
I would like to think of another scenario. Suppose my aunt decided at a very young age to do what many other young people do, she would reject Jesus and enjoy the things the world had to offer. Suppose she spent her entire life searching for the pleasures the world had to offer her. She let the devil control and direct her life. She never wasted her valuable Sundays worshiping the Lord God. She enjoyed sleeping in, and having a late breakfast, and going to do the fun things the world had to offer. How would one feel sitting by the death bed of that aunt. You would have to remember what is said in Matthew 25:41, “Then shall he say unto them on the left depart from me, ye cursed unto everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” When one puts the pleasures of the world ahead of our service to the Lord, we will receive this judgment. On the other hand if we, like my aunt, serve the Lord as he would have us, Matthew 25:34 would apply: “Then shall the King say unto them on the right hand; Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the earth.”
I urge every one to think very seriously about what path you have chosen in your life. Have you chosen to serve the Lord or have you chosen to enjoy the pleasures of this earth for a season. When you stand before the Lord on the judgment day, and you will because we see in Romans 14:10-11, “But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”
Where will you spend eternity??
-Don Adair