Category Archives: Retirement

The first truth for me about my death is that I firmly believe that God, not death, does have and will have the final word. If you are in some form of the final phase of life, whether possibly imminent because of illness, or simply because your age suggests that it is not that many years away, I think you have to come to terms with that basic truth. For Paul that was one of the core truths of the resurrection. “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Cor 15:54b-55.

Having said that, however, I am comfortable with confessing that I don’t know what the implications of that truth are for me personally. That is, while I believe that God, not death, has the final word, I do not know what that final word, in my personal situation, will be. I’m not really talking about heaven or hell. I’m simply talking about the future beyond death. If you examine the Scripture, there is very little actually said about what happens beyond death. Yet that doesn’t scare me because I trust that God is good and therefore what is good is what will happen since God has the final word.

Do I want to experience glad heavenly reunions? Sure! But I’m not sure that projecting a continuation of our finite life encompasses what is true. While I’ve had a wonderful life, part of that wonder and appreciation was nurtured by the very finiteness of life. How would life look if it were no longer finite or subject to the limitations that provided the savor of life. I once was talking to a confirmation class and one of the youth suggested that if eternal life meant that you would just sit around heaven all day, then it sounded rather boring to him.

I return to my conclusion, that I am willing to trust God for that answer. What do you believe?

In my last blog, I spoke about living life in the realistic awareness that I will die within the next several years. In a theoretical sense, we all know that we are going to die, but most of us live in denial of that truth as we continue to fill our days with activities and accomplishments. As I enter my 72 years of life, I am filled with gratitude for all that I have been privileged to experience but I also am more aware that someday it will have to come to an end.

I am now faced with what I believe about death in a more personal way. About twenty years ago, I had a mini-rehearsal of this question when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. While I was more fortunate than many in the outcome of my treatment, I had no way of being sure of that at the time. Two things happened for me at the time. One, I realized that I actually did believe what I had been preaching to others about God, not death having the final word. But, two, I also was rather optimistic about my being able to triumph over this challenge. While I knew that death was a very real possibility, and I was willing to accept that if it came, still I didn’t really believe it was going to come.

But when it does come, and it will eventually, what is it that I believe about that reality? While that is a long preamble, on my next blog I will try to speak to my belief about death and how that affects my living in this phase of my life.

As part of my spiritual discipline of reading Scripture in this new phase of my life, I want to read it as speaking to my personal experience in this chapter of my life. I want to listen with a new set of ears. For example, I have read Matthew 24:36 many times. “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” For many Christians, it speaks of the coming of Christ. It assures believers that this world and its history has a point. It is going somewhere and God through Christ will triumph in the end. The prayer, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” is not an unrealistic dream but a realistic expectation. Our efforts for good are not in vain but are part of the fulfillment of history that will take place.

That is how I have always read that passage and in a macro sense I still read it that way. But, in addition to that understanding, I am now listening in a more personal way. It is captured in the metaphor used to describe a person’s death. They say that s/he has gone to meet his or her maker. While it has always been true, my death is a lot more likely in this phase of my life than in previous times. I can no longer live under the illusion of immortality. It may not happen in the next ten years but it is likely to happen in less than twenty years. However, as the verse says, “about that day and hour” I do not know. How am I to now live in the face of a limited time left on this earth?

Later in the passage, Matthew 25:13, it says, “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” From a personal standpoint, I need to explore how I can keep awake to the imminence of my own death. I do not see that as a depressive reality but rather as a new challenge and adventure.

How do you view that phase of your life?