“We are going to lose this at some point” our oncologist said to my wife. It’s true. If you walk down the halls of the hospice home right now, many beds have opened up since the day we first checked in. Sometimes patients are here a day or two and others a few weeks. But everyone who checks in can be sure of one thing.
They will die.
You have to feel sorrow for someone in hospice. In life you are constantly trying to solve problems. You might spend less or eat healthier. Get new skills or certifications. Change investment firms. Pick a new healthcare provider. But hospice is a problem that can’t be solved. Entering hospice is a final decision. Except for a miracle, you can be certain that you will spend your final days in this place.
When Sorrow Comes
I can only think of three ways to repond to this sorrowful situation. Rage, reject, or submit. Raging will not help. You might choose to live out your final days in anger and despondence, shaking your first and cursing at the sky. But you will still breath that final breath. For all the “getting it out” you might feel, your situation won’t really change. And if there’s no God, what are you shaking your fist at? If you still shake your fist, maybe you might believe deep down that there is a God, and you’ve just been suppressing that for a while.
Another way to respond might be to reject the truth. To keep on living normally and act like nothing is wrong. Distractions fit well with this response. Keeping busy and trying not to think about what is coming is the only logical course of action. But like the kid hiding from the parents by covering their own eyes, distracting ourselves is just as futile. And that last breath will uncover our eyes whether we are ready or not.
The last way I can imagine someone responding is to simply submit to the inevitable. The way this submission looks though will take on a different manner depending on the reason for the resignation. If the person is without any hope, then the tone of futility will echo in the actions and reactions of the person. Like a grumbling teen who obeys their parents because there’s no way to avoid the chore, so too a person might simply give up because they have no options left.
Hope in the Midst of Sorrow
But their is another type of submission to this situation. One that leaves the person somber but satisfied. Grave but glad. Helpless but hoped-filled. That is the submission that is founded in the Gospel. My wife and I have submitted to the gospel. We believe it because it’s true. And truth always gives hope. Perhaps you’ve never heard about this gospel. To begin to understand the gospel we need to start at the beginning.
Where did everything come from?
This world did not just happen on accident. Sure, this is the common “theory” bandied about by learn-ed scholars. But the evidence just doesn’t fit. Think about anything else in your life for just a moment. What causes itself? What appears from nothing? If you leave home without making your bed, and come home later to see it made, you don’t assume the bed made itself. No, you know that a cause outside the bed had to act upon it to put order to those messed up sheets. And every single thing in your life is just the same as your bed. This leads us all the way back to the Beginner of the universe. The universe could not cause itself. It is too orderly to be random. Thus, there was a Creator Who created the world. But more importantly, that Creator created you.
A Creator Implies Intentionality
That a Creator exists leads logically to understanding that we are designed. We are not mere evolutions or accidents. We were created with intent which means we have a purpose, an “essence” if you will. There is, in short, a “way” we are supposed to be. But this is the problem; we aren’t the way we are supposed to be. We know this. In the darkness when we are alone with our thoughts and we have nothing to distract ourselves, we know this. We know that we have not lived up to the way the Creator meant for us to live. And worse than this, we know we are responsible for this condition.
We Can’t Fix Our Problem
And if we are responsible for our wayward condition, we also know that we are justly in the wrong. And if justly in the wrong, then we know we deserve punishment. Look at the human condition today. Just think about the many ways we try to avoid looking at this stain on our character. We drink until we can forget our shame for just a moment. We live to outdo our evil and try to tip the scales of justice. But we never quite do enough good to calm our conscience, and in the end we merely add to our guilt. We medicate to see if that will help where the alcohol couldn’t. Humans try so many ways to keep from noticing this truth. A that is comes from the inside of us–out hearts–not outside. The truth that we are condemned, justly . . . and we know it.
So we live in our sins. We try to reform, and fall right back. We fight the power to try to do a good deed to make up. We give money to charity. We help the little old lady across the street. But nothing works. Nothing is enough. The debt we owe is too great for our starter bank account that’s already in the red. We stand condemned. There is really no hope on our own to fix our problem.
Bad News and Good News
The Bible explains this situation quite clearly. The pages of scripture record the fall and sin of humanity in so many examples. Paul’s book in the New Testament to the church in Rome is a helpful place to start. He explains that all have sinned (Romans 3:23). He explains that the penalty for those sins is death (Romans 6:23). And this death is not only physical, but also eternal. To be a sinner and to die with our sins means being separated from God for eternity in a place called Hell.
The bad news for us is very bad indeed. We have no hope. Nothing we can do will be good enough to make up for our sinful condition. But there is good news. And when the bad news is as bad as this, the good news–to be truly good–must be equally in proportion. And the good news is that this type of good news exists! Think about our sin as a debt we must pay. The debt is close to infinite. We have no way of doing enough good to make up for our sin. A well known illustration will help. Imagine we are trying to throw a rock to the moon. You and I might try to see who can throw further. You might throw your rock twice as far as me. But neither of us will come close to reaching our goal.
The good news is that God loves us. Though we sin against Him, though we live as though He doesn’t exist in spite of the abundant evidence to the contrary, He loves us. And since He is just, He made a way for us to be saved from the penalty we face. He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to come and take our place. Jesus became our substitute, dying on a Roman cross to pay for our debt of sin. The good news is truly good. Since Jesus is God, and Jesus is perfect and has no sin, his sacrifice on our behalf is truly enough for every sinner. There is hope! Christ has made a way to be saved from our sin.
But the good news gets even better. What do you have to do to be saved? Do you need to clean up your life? Do you need to pay for some or most of your sin? Remember, you could not do those on your own. Why would that work now? The good news is that God only asks for simple faith in His sacrifice on our behalf. “The just shall live by faith” is what it says in Romans (Romans 1:16-17). Later Paul also says “All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). He further explains,
“if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
Romans 10:9-10
Notice the absence of works or good deeds. Rather, the Bible calls us to internally turn away from trusting in our own abilities and works, and trust in God’s work on our behalf. This takes something far more challenging than works and good living: it takes humility. You must humble yourself to the Creator of the universe, and then ask Him to save you from your sins.
Hope in Hospice
This good news–what the Bible calls the “gospel”–is what changes everything. Robyn and I, to quote the Bible again, do “not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians. 4:13). We are so sad. I cry regularly. We express how sad we are that Robyn will be gone and won’t be able to see the many good times in our children’s future. But Robyn knows what happens when she dies. She knows where she will go, and who she will be with. Her Lord and Savior, the Creator of all things. She will be with Jesus Christ.
And this is hope. Not that her life meant something or made a difference. Not that she did enough good to outweigh the bad. Not that she set an example for young people to follow. Not that she attended church or was baptized. Not even that she gave money to the church regularly. No. None of these will change a person’s enternal destiny. All of these good works are nothing more than dirty rags, ready to be thrown away (Isaiah 64:6).
Do you have hope? Do you have the hope that Robyn has right now? Have you been living to distract yourself from your own coming death? Sure, you might only be 42 and this kind of talk is reserved for the 60-year-old’s nearing retirement. But Robyn is 42. She’s so young. But she’s ready because her soul has been made well and she has been declared righteous by her Creator. And her Creator–whether you want to admit it or not–is your creator. Do you have hope? Do you want this hope?
Please reach out if you have questions. It’s the most important thing you can do. Settle this hope today and be ready not just to die, but to really live the life you were designed to live.
Thoughts Worth Thinking 