My uncle Ernie was about fifty years old when doctors diagnosed him with cancer and told him he had possibly six months to live. I saw him often during this time and was struck by how much power hope has in a person’s life.
My uncle would hear of some new, non-traditional cure for cancer—perhaps a diet or an experimental drug available only in a foreign country and for a few days his spirit would be buoyed up. He would take a renewed interest in his business and in the people around him...but when the supposed cure turned out to be unsuccessful, his spirit would come crashing down and he would become withdrawn and very bitter.
His life, after the news of his cancer, was like a roller coaster ride. There would be periods of hope, full of high hopes and good feelings, followed closely by times of extreme despondency. After a few months of grasping at any hope for help in his fight against cancer, he decided it was all over for him and that he was going to die. He felt robbed and cheated of everything he had worked so hard to get, and that sense of loss made him bitter and resentful.
One evening, as he was lying on his back in a hospital bed, he got a surprise visit from a young man called John. John was a plumbing subcontractor who had done quite a bit of work for my uncle’s home-building business. He was used to dealing with my uncle on a business level, though my uncle was demanding and sometimes harsh.
“Hello, Ernie. It’s John 1 thought I would come by and talk with you a bit,” John said.
“Mmm,” my uncle mumbled. He looked away from John and stared at the ceiling.
“I’m sorry you are not feeling well,” John said clumsily, standing at the bedside. “I wanted to come and share something very important to me with you. I wanted to tell you how important the Lord Jesus is in my life.”
John paused for a response. Ernie gave no indication he was listening at all. He simply continued to stare at the ceiling.
“I wanted you to know that the Bible says we are all sinners and that not one of us will ever get into heaven by ourselves. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. When He died on the cross He shed His blood, and the blood of Jesus can make the worst sinner clean if they only trust him.”
Ernie gave no indication that what he was hearing interested him in the least bit. He lay stone-faced on the bed. John figured that even if Ernie wasn’t giving him any encouragement to continue, he at least hadn’t asked him to stop talking either, so he opened his Bible to the third chapter of John.
“I am going to read to you an important chapter out of the Bible,” John told him as he opened his Bible and began to read aloud: “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with Him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”
While John was in the middle of reading this, my uncle abruptly sat up. It was the first time that he had moved during the visit. In a clear voice he said, “I want to be born again! I want to take Jesus as my Lord and Savior!”
It was as sudden as that! John was taken by surprise by my uncle’s confession of faith. He set his Bible down on the bedside stand and hugged my uncle; then he prayed with him and gave thanks to the Lord.
In the few months my uncle lived after this, his life gave evidence he truly was born again. His bitterness disappeared and the Lord helped him to bear his illness. He had regular Bible readings both by himself and also with others. In God’s Word he found food for the new hunger in his soul that every born-again person has. He also shared the message of salvation with others in his family.
His physical state progressively worsened, but his new faith in Christ gave him a hope that carried him through the difficult months before his death. When he found the Savior, he found the greatest hope a man or woman can possess. It is the hope that when the body dies, the soul will live on with God, and then in a future moment of time the body will be resurrected out of the grave and the soul and body will be united and live forever in the presence of the Lord. This hope-no, this absolute certainty-gave him the confidence to face his impending death without bitterness. Instead of feeling that death was robbing him of all that he had, he saw it as a doorway he would pass through to enter the light, the joy and the peace of a much greater place of blessing.
Before he was saved, all his hopes had been bound up with things that must shortly pass away: health, wealth and land. But after he accepted the Lord Jesus, he could say with all those who belong to the Savior: the “Lord Jesus Christ...our hope.”
How about you? Where do you stand in regard to the One who died at Calvary and gave His life for you? Have you bowed your heart to Him and called Him Lord and Savior? If you have, then He is your “hope” and no other hope can be compared to Him. Or would the words, “Having no hope, and without God in the world,” better describe you? If they do, don’t wait another moment before you make the decision to bow to the Lord Jesus as your Lord and Savior!
Ernie found the Savior in a time of great trouble. Thousands upon thousands of others have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus. They have found Him to be altogether true and faithful, as His Word promises. When it was time to pass out of this world and into the next, not one of them regretted trusting in the Savior. Won’t you too confess your faith in the Lord Jesus and join the ranks of those who are saved?