Several years ago, The Onion, a satirical magazine, ran a humorous article with a biting truth. They titled the article, “World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100 Percent.” The article reported:
World Health Organization officials expressed disappointment Monday at the group's finding that, despite the enormous efforts of doctors, rescue workers and other medical professionals worldwide, the global death rate remains constant at 100 percent.
Death, a metabolic affliction causing total shutdown of all life functions, has long been considered humanity's number one health concern. Responsible for 100 percent of all recorded fatalities worldwide, the condition has no cure.
“I was really hoping, what with all those new radiology treatments, rescue helicopters, aerobics TV shows and what have you, that we might at least make a dent in it this year,” WHO Director… said, “Unfortunately, it would appear that the death rate remains constant and total, as it has inviolably since the dawn of time” (The Onion, “World Death Rate Still Holding Steady at 100 Percent,” 1-22-97; www.PreachingToday.com).
It reminds me of what Emperor Palpatine said to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Take a look (show You Will Die video clip). “Now, Young Skywalker, you will die!”
Star Wars fans know that Luke Skywalker escapes death that day. But what Emperor Palpatine said to Luke applies to all of us: “You will die!” Whether you have a terminal diagnosis or not, you and me, all of us are terminal.
So, How do you live in light of your impending death? What do you do, knowing that indeed you will die someday? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Ecclesiastes 8, Ecclesiastes 8, where Solomon begins his 4th sermon in the book, answering the question: How do you live in light of your inevitable and impending death.
Ecclesiastes 8:16-17 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out (ESV).
No matter how hard you work, you will never figure God out. Even if you toil night and day to know His plan, it will elude you. So quit trying! As you face a terminal diagnosis, stop toiling to discover God’s purposes. Quit laboring to understand what God is up to. Cease striving to comprehend God’s ways.
Ecclesiastes 9:1 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him (ESV).
You don’t know whether you will prosper or suffer. You don’t know whether you will experience love or hate. That’s all in God’s hands. He controls your future, not you.
Now sometimes, when people get a terminal diagnosis, they try bargaining with God. They think that if they do certain things, God will prolong their lives. Perhaps, if they go to church more, if they give more, if they pray more, or if they serve more hours, God will reward them with healing and a longer life. But God works in mysterious ways, in ways different than what most people think. So quit working so hard to solve the puzzle of God’s ways. Instead, just rest in His will for you, and trust His plan.
The World Puzzle Championship takes place every year at locations around the globe. Last October (2022), over 200 puzzle solvers from 31 countries traveled to Krakow, Poland, to participate in the event. According to an article in Time magazine, some time ago (2013), these connoisseurs of puzzles “eat, dream, and on rare occasions when they sleep, dream about puzzles full time.” They're the true fanatics and geniuses of the puzzle world. But the article also noted that hundreds of millions of people around the world do crossword puzzles, play Sudoku, or work to solve puzzles on their computers, phones, or tablets.
Why are puzzles so wildly popular all around the globe? Will Shortz, the crossword editor of The New York Times answered the question this way:
We're faced with problems every day in life, and we almost never get clarity. We jump into the middle of a problem, we carry it through to whatever extent we can to find an answer, and then… we just find the next thing. [But] with a human made puzzle you have the satisfaction of being completely in control: you start the challenge from the beginning, and you move all the way to the end. That's a satisfaction you don't get much in real life. You feel in control, and that's a great feeling” (Lev Grossman, “The Answer Men,” Time, 3-11-13; www.PreachingToday.com).
You can solve human made puzzles, but you cannot solve the God-made puzzle of life. For God is not a puzzle that you can figure out and control, so quit trying! Instead, just rest in His good, acceptable, and perfect plan for you.
The late professor Jacques Monod, the famous French geneticist and Nobel prize winner, was on a Toronto TV show with Mother Teresa. On the show, he spoke of how in his opinion all our destiny was locked up in our genes, which shape and direct our character and outlook, thus destroying the individual.
As he pontificated on this theme, Mother Teresa sat with her eyes closed and her hands folded, deep in prayer. The host of the TV show asked Mother Teresa if she had anything to say. She replied: “I believe in love and compassion,” and resumed her prayer.
As the Professor was leaving the studio someone overheard him mutter, “If I saw much more of that woman, I should be in bad trouble!” (Kitty Muggeridge, “Gazing on Truth,” Christianity Today, Vol. 29, no. 18; www.PreachingToday.com).
He thought he had life all figured out. She just trusted her Savior. You do the same. Stop toiling to discover God’s purposes, and just…
REST IN GOD’S PERFECT PLAN FOR YOU
Rely on God’s will for your life. Trust God to accomplish His purposes for you, even if you don’t know what they are. More than that, as you face a terminal diagnosis…
FIND HOPE IN THIS LIFE AND THE NEXT.
Be confident not only for the future, but also in the time you have left on this earth. Look forward to what life will bring in the days and weeks ahead.
But such hope begins when you accept the fact that you will die. Acknowledge that your life will end someday. Admit that you will not live forever in this world.
Ecclesiastes 9:2-3 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead (ESV).
Good or bad on the outside, all people die! That’s because all people on the inside are full of evil. The Bible says: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). It also says: “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And “There is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10).
When bad things happen to so-called “good” people, the question is not, “Why me?” The question is, “Why NOT me?” I deserve so much worse, but God in His grace has preserved my life this long and offers eternal life to all who put their trust in His Son, Jesus.
Jesus, who died on the cross for your sins and rose again, said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).
Yes, you will die, but you can live again if you put your life in Jesus’ hands. Oh, dear friend, if you haven’t done it yet, trust Christ with your life. Commit your life to Him; and though you face the certain prospect of death, know that He will raise you from the dead to live with Him forever.
That’s the believer’s hope for the future, but you can also have hope in this life. Yes, you will die…
Ecclesiastes 9:4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion (ESV).
People despised dogs in Bible days (1 Samuel 17:43) and honored lions (Proverbs 30:29-30). But it is better to be alive and despised than dead and revered.
Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun (ESV).
Even though you will die, please, find hope in life! For living people have the opportunity for reward. They can feel, and they can share in life’s events—the birth of a child, graduation ceremonies, weddings, birthday parties, family gatherings, and vacations. Even though death is inevitable, there is so much to live for!
Dr. Eric McLaughlin is a missionary doctor in Burundi (East Africa), one of the poorest nations on the planet. After years of watching one out of seven of his patients die, it is hard for him to hold onto hope. He tells the story of Odette, a young woman who was hospitalized with terrible kidney failure. Odette’s family pooled their money to send her to a kidney specialist in the city. Long-term dialysis was not an option, so Dr. McLaughlin wondered if the expense of such a trip would change anything for her.
Dr. McLaughlin writes, “I fear to hope sometimes. My recent weeks had been filled with tragedies like Odette’s. More than that, there had been several times when it seemed like someone was going to recover but then suddenly died. ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick,’ says Proverbs 13:12. Exactly; my heart was sick.”
Amid all this despair, his phone chimed. Dr. McLaughlin saw that the messages were from a friend named Onesphore, a former student and coworker. Now he works at a hospital in the city.
“Good morning doctor. I wanted to let you know that we have been caring for Odette. We have not been able to do much. But some fluids and careful observation have resulted in her kidneys returning almost to normal! We’re sending her home today. I just thought you would want to know. Praise God!”
Dr. McLaughlin continues, “Not only was Odette healed, but I heard the news from someone I had helped train for his current job. The good news arrived precisely when I was sitting there thinking about how afraid I was to hope. The idea that God was present was no longer theoretical; it was real and sudden. In a moment, the revealing of this whole story filled me with tearful joy, not a small amount of fear, and a renewed hope” (Eric McLaughlin, “What Should We Do If Our Compassion Runs Out,” Christianity Today, 6-21-22; www.PreachingToday.com).
You never know what God will do, so hang on to your hope. Sure, you will die someday, but until then look forward to the good things God might bring your way.
As you face a terminal diagnosis, rest in God’s perfect plan for you. Find hope in this life and the next. Then finally…
ENJOY THE TIME YOU HAVE LEFT.
Have a blast while you last. Make the most of the opportunities God gives you every day.
Ecclesiastes 9:7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do (ESV).
Dear believer, quit trying to earn God’s approval, because you already have it! God delights in you. He enjoys the relationship He has with you. You please Him just by being who you are.
Please, hear what God says about you who believe in His Son.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-24).
And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness (Romans 4:5).
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1).
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Romans 8:33-37).
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (Romans 12:1).
You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).
[I pray] that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of HIS glorious inheritance in the saints (Ephesians 1:18). You are God’s rich inheritance, not the other way around!
Be imitators of God, as beloved children (Ephesians 5:1).
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience (Colossians 3:12).
But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior (Titus 3:4-6).
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are (1 John 3:1).
Jude writes “to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ (Jude 1).
God loves you, dear friend. He delights in you. He considers himself rich because you belong to Him. So live in light of God’s approval, which is already yours, and stop striving to earn it. That means enjoy the life He gives you and give it all you’ve got.
Ecclesiastes 9:8 Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head (ESV).
White clothing in Bible lands reflected the heat of the sun, thus providing comfort for the wearer, and oil was symbolic of joy! So to put it all together, white clothing and oil suggests comfort and celebration.
Ecclesiastes 9:9-10 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going (ESV).
Enjoy life. Enjoy your wife, and work with all your might. Whatever you can do, do it fully, giving it all you got. Yes, you will die, but don’t stop living! Instead, live life more fully—enjoy every moment and take advantage of every opportunity. Because the day will come when those moments and opportunities will cease.
Joshua Haldeman grew up on the prairies of Saskatchewan. When the domino effect of the Great Depression hit Canada, Haldeman lost his five-thousand-acre farm and had to start from scratch. He tried his hand at chiropractic medicine and politics. Then Haldeman discovered his passion—flying airplanes.
In 1950, Haldeman uprooted his family and moved halfway around the world to South Africa, a place he had never even been before! With the help of his wife, Winnifred, and their children, he disassembled his 1948 single-engine airplane, packed it into crates, shipped it to South Africa, and reassembled it once it got there.
A few years later, Joshua and Winnifred Haldeman began a thirty-thousand-mile round-trip flight from Africa to Australia and back. Historians believe that they are the only private pilots to ever make that flight in a single-engine airplane. In comparison, Charles Lindbergh's legendary transatlantic flight in 1927 was only 3,600 miles. Twenty-seven years later, the Haldeman’s flew more than eight times as far!
Few people have heard of Joshua and Winnifred Haldeman, but many have heard of their grandson, Elon Musk. Besides social media, Musk has turned the automotive and aero¬space industries upside down. At SpaceX headquarters, there are two giant posters of Mars. One shows a cold, barren planet. The other looks a lot like Earth. The second poster represents Musk's life purpose—colonizing Mars.
Now, how does someone even conceptualize colonizing a planet? Dreams are not conceived in a vacuum. One of Musk's biographers noted, “Throughout his child¬hood. Elon heard many stories about his grandfather's exploits and sat through countless slide shows that documented his travels.” Those stories were the seedbed of Musk's imagination. Those stories were the shoulders he stood on (Mark Batterson, Win the Day: 7 Daily Habits to Help You Stress Less & Accomplish More, 2020, pp. 24-25; www. PreachingToday.com).
You too stand on great shoulders. You stand on God’s shoulders, who loves you and approves of you. So let it motivate you to live life to the full!
Yes, you will die, but don’t stop living. As you face a terminal diagnosis, rest in God’s perfect plan for you, find hope in this life and the next, and enjoy the time you have left.
Claude Alexander, bishop of The Park Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, says:
There are questions that beg to be answered. There are dilemmas to be overcome. There are gaps to be filled, and the challenge is for you to fill them… There is a purpose for your being here. You are meant to answer something, solve something, provide something, lead something, discover something, compose something, write something, say something, translate something, interpret something, sing something, create something, teach something, preach something, bear something, overcome something, and in doing so, you improve the lives of others under the power of God, for the glory of God (Claude Alexander, in his sermon, “Can You Do Any Better?” www.PreachingToday.com).
There is so much more life to live before you die. Live it in God’s power for God’s glory until He takes you home.
