John 7; John 8
Have you found something in life that you are willing to die for?
Scripture
John 8
12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
51 I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!”
Observation
On October 24th at around 10 pm in the evening I was struck with a pain so excruciating I thought that I had been hit with a sledgehammer in my stomach. In that same moment all I could see was an intense bright light and as I remember it was sort of bright green. At that same moment the Lord let me know that I was having a heart attack. I immediately thought of my wife Kathy and God gave me a peace that she would be fine. I then thought of my kids and my grandkids and God gave me the same peace about them. I remember thinking OK Lord here we go. I think in that moment I believed that God was taking me home. I remember I was at peace with what ever was going to happen.
My life verse is Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify the Father which is in Heaven.
Some have asked me if God allowed me to glimpse into Heaven when I quit breathing and they had to resuscitate me multiple times. I am sad to say that as far as I can remember the answer to that question is “no”. The only bright light that I remember was at the moment of my heart attack. It could have been God’s glory, but it wasn’t a peek into Heaven.
As I started waking up after being unconscious for over a week I remember my brother Rick asking me to quote Matthew 5:16. He said that most of what I was saying didn’t make any sense and the doctors were afraid that I had suffered brain damage because of having quit breathing so many times. So he asked me to quote Matthew 5:16 and when I repeated the verse back to him he told me later that he knew I was OK.
I remember hearing the sirens and the Paramedics talking to me. They kept telling me to stay with them. I remember thinking to myself or maybe I even said to them I can’t stay with you I am going out! I remember being in the ambulance and I remember the doors at the emergency room bursting open and I remember very bright lights in the ER and I remember seeing Kathy one last time. During this entire time I never once was afraid. I was not afraid of dying. In fact, I thought I was dying. God had given me a peace that my family would be OK so there was not any reason for me to worry.
The reason I was able to have that kind of peace was because I knew that I was not ever going to really die. I knew that if the Lord allowed me to die I knew that I would live forever. Just as Jesus says in John 8:51, “I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!”
One day I know that I will die. It may be because my heart never recovers completely and I have another heart attack. Who knows? One thing I do know for sure I know that I will die again. And the next time I die I will stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This may sound morbid to you, but it is the truth. When I die I want to die serving the Lord in some other country, sharing the Good News about Jesus to people that have never had the opportunity to hear about Him. I want my life to count for Him until the moment He calls me home.
How about you? Have you found something in life that you are willing to die for?
Application
I will go overseas this year and take the Gospel to those who have not had the opportunity to hear about Jesus.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing me a little more time on this earth. It is good to be able to enjoy my family. I know that You allowed me to remain here for a reason. Thank You for answering the prayers of so many and allowing me to come back to life. Help me take advantage of every moment that I have here on this earth. I pray for Dick Whittleton this morning. I pray that you restore him to health. I pray that You give the doctors all the wisdom that they need to be able to treat him. You are the Healer. You are the Great Physician. Nothing is too hard for You .
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