Last Words
When the patriarch Jacob was dying he gave final words to his sons. Jacob seemed to have an unusual gifting of prophecy in his final hours. His son Joseph seemed to have a similar urgency in delivering his last words to his family. Many today report that when an old family member is dying they, many times, seem to have one foot in this natural realm and one foot in a heavenly realm at the same time. Jesus had last words – several times; when He was dying on the cross, when He ascended in the sight of the believers, and in the close of the book of Revelation. The Living Word Himself would not have actual final words.
None of this talk about last words is to suggest that I am near death. I am 65 at the time of this writing (2024). Too much older and it is possible that a person may ramble with the nostalgic opinionated babble of an old man. Too early in life and a person may not have experienced all of God's dealings with him yet. I may live another 30 years but age 65 seems like it may be an optimal point to communicate something important. At this season in life one may have learned about everything he is going to learn. Heavenly directed itineraries, in order for God to teach us, may be mostly behind us now. I hope an older person can continue to live for God but the bulk of what they are going to learn is probably in the past. I pray that you and I will be productive, fruitful, and coherent well into old age. However, our last years may be characterized by less than perfect memory and communication.
I was thinking about what it would be like to address a group of family, friends, or others knowing that you have one more chance to affect this world. What if I had everyone's attention for 15 minutes which would be my very last time? Hundreds or maybe thousands of things are important but not that many are essential. What would I say? Would I try to sell another book? There would be no place for selfishness or greed in one's final minutes. This would be the most honest and sincere moment of one's life.
If I had a final 15 minutes I think I would like to impress on people the things, out of thousands of good ones, that I see as most essential. Everyone has an opinion. Young people may mindlessly repeat or talk about what they heard someone else say. Old people may have strong opinions simply coming out of old age, not from a lifetime of walking with God. Here are the most essential things that I would like to say as final words, probably in this order, also.
You must be born again
This is, without question, the most essential thing I have ever learned. Jesus thought it was absolutely necessary. If we miss this truth, nothing else matters. Jesus suffered and died for this purpose. Not to forgive our sin only but to bring us to God. This was His all consuming passion, that we may know and love the Father as He did.
In all of my life, in all of my study, and in all my experiences this is the most essential truth there can be. Again, if we miss it here, everything else is pointless.
The Work of God in your spirit is perfect and complete
The work of God in causing you to be born again is complete. You do not, cannot, and must not try to add anything to God's work in causing a new thing to be born inside you, in your spirit. We do not have two natures. We simply respond to the promises of God with faith. He does all the work. We have the correct response, which is faith. We do not do the best we can and hope that God will take up the slack and do the rest.
We have a new thing, that never existed before, in our spirit. The old spirit is gone, dead, and buried. Everything in our spirit is new. God cannot fail. Sin and evil cannot harm us, in our spirit. People say they believe this but when they hear of God demanding anything of us in our practical life, they fall apart. We must be firmly established in the grace of God.
We must all give an account
This sounds like a direct contradiction to the preceding point. Though we have been completely forgiven by the Savior (past, present, and future sin), we must all stand at the Evaluation concerning our service for Him. Our sins are not brought up here. This is all about our service for the Lord. I have tried to develop this in my book A House of Two Rooms. A person claims they believe in God's full and free salvation but when they hear that they have some responsibility to obey, they come apart in despair. It turns out that they have not been grounded in anything.
Jesus desires to give His faithful servants positions of greater or lesser responsibility in His coming Kingdom. Some will suffer loss of these potential rewards. Some will be rewarded, more or less than someone else. This is nobody's idea other than Jesus'. Few, if any, would want it this way. It is too heavy to even think about. We just love Jesus. We obey His easy and light commands. We want to avoid sin that He suffered for. We look for His soon appearing. The Judge will do what is right. He is not stingy or cruel. He is looking for almost any reason to shower His servants (God's Sons) with rewards (in addition to eternal life!).
Walk in Forgiveness
Since God had such great mercy on us, we must walk in forgiveness toward everyone else. That does not mean that now evil and abuse are no longer sins. They are evil! We just must turn the situation over to God, the righteous Judge. The person who did you wrong does not remember, care, or even know you exist. Do not hold the memory of evil in your heart. You will be the only one that suffers. If we hold unforgiveness in our heart, the tormentors have free access to our lives.
Walk with the Holy Spirit
Jesus is not here right now. Our only connection to God is the Holy Spirit. He must be our best friend, though He is not just our “pal”. He is the Spirit of the Holy God. We need to walk with Him every day. He must become more to us than a point of theology. Praying in the Spirit/spirit daily is so vital. We love Him not just because we need Him. To realize that He is with us permanently and is here to stay with us is amazing. He stays with us in this life. How miserable it must be for Him to walk with us through this sin filled world. Yet, He is willing to stay with us here even in the midst of sin. He is much more than a faithful friend, He lives with us forever.
Love the Appearing of Jesus
There is a special reward promised to those who love and long for His appearing. Be found when He comes to be one of those who knew it would be today because you look for Him everyday.
Jan. 12, 2024