Her last breath

Her last breath

She was laying on the hospital bed dying. Her face was drawn, her eyes stared blankly into the room, and she labored to draw each breath. As I walked into the room with six patients, she was the first to catch my eye. It was clear that she was dying.

And while some were still in the room, she breathed her last breath on this earth. We had come to pray with her and others in the hospital. We had come to share the good news of Jesus. But we were too late for her. Maybe if we had come a few days earlier we could have told her. Maybe she had saving faith. Maybe she did not.

Yet we cannot escape the fact that this woman now faces Almighty God and she either stands before Him with Jesus as her Savior, or she faces eternity in torment and agony. We were too late.

This is why Jesus tells us that “today is the day of salvation”. And if today is the day of salvation, then today must be the day to share the gospel of salvation. For this woman is not alone. Thousands die each day in the hospitals and homes and streets of Liberia. They die each day in Fairview, in Oklahoma, and America. And they die without Jesus as their savior. They die without anyone bringing the hope of the Son of God.

We who are charged with sharing this gospel stand guilty of the sin of silence. We deceive ourselves and wash our hands by offering up the ingenuous argument that “they” had heard about Jesus and rejected him. “They” had their chance.

But have “they” heard about Jesus as savior? Had this women heard about Jesus as savior? Or have “they” simply heard that name used by church people who were really no different than “they” were? Why are we so hesitant to share about our savior with others? Why can’t we tell them what Jesus is doing in our lives? Do our lives keep them from listening?

She took her last breath while we were in the room. How many will breathe their last without hearing the true gospel and seeing it lived out?

Kris