Dying Well

For Monday, July 11, 2005
Proverbs 11:4

Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.

In medical news this morning a report was published that people with at least $70,000 in assets die better. Their last year of life is less painful, presumably because they can afford better healthcare and have more leverage in demanding good care.

But riches - be it $70,000 or $70 billion - will be of no avail at the final judgment. People speak of good and bad death. To die young or violently is a bad death; to die old and in one's sleep is a good death. The only good death, however, is to die in the arms of Jesus Christ, our Righteousness who delivers us from death.

Certainly, it is wise to prepare financially for one's death, especially if you have dependents. And it is good to keep healthy. But death is inevitable, if our Lord tarries in his return, and what matters is not how pain-free our death it, but whether or not it becomes the doorway into our Savior's arms.