It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart. Ecclesiastes 7:2
It is what I do for a living. I help people plan and prepare for what happens legally after they close their eyes for the last time. When I was a Boy Scout, I learned the scout motto: Be Prepared.
Recently, a lady called me and said: “I need a will in case I die.” I told her the only question was whether or not she had a will, but there was no question whether she was going to die. Though time, place, age and the like are unknown, the certainty of the life of everyone is death.
From God’s perspective, death is both menacing and merciful. It is both an ending and a beginning. It can be both a separation and a reunion. It is a certainty. Death is inevitable. Everybody experiences it.
Despite all of the medical progress we’ve seen in prolonging life and improving its quality, the death rate remains virtually unchanged. It just tends to happen later in life these days. The Hebrew writer tells us,
“It is appointed for men to die once” (Hebrews 9:27).
We can’t avoid death, but we can prepare for it.
Getting our worldly “affairs in order” is important, but what is even more important is getting our spiritual affairs in order. It is something I ask every one of my clients.
It is essential that we understand the progression — that death follows life, and that after death comes the judgment. Some day we all will stand before the throne of judgment and be asked by what right do we enter into Heaven.
Our death could happen today, or it may be a while, but it will. There is no “In case”.
Ask yourself if your spiritual affairs are “in order.”
May your motto be: “Be prepared.”
by John Grant
used be permission