“We are Christian people,” a lady told me as I was doing my job in a hospital in the Midwest. In the course of my duties, I was humming a hymn that I had on my heart, “Tell me the story of Jesus, Write on my heart every word,” when the lady in the room made that statement to me, which led to a brief but happy exchange about the hope of salvation through the gospel of the grace of God. There were Christian books and pamphlets and a Bible in the room. There were two other patients that I was seeing that weekend who brought the grace of God and the hope of the gospel into stark contrast with an empty eternity without Jesus Christ.
In another room lay a woman with “salt and pepper” hair, too young for Medicare, but who did not have long to live. She had just been informed that her illness was terminal. She was sullen and almost non-communicative. I tried without success to engage her in conversation. On her nightstand, there was a copy of J. D. Robb’s Reunion in Death. There were no Bible or prayer cards — only books that she could barely pick up, that offered no hope to her, and certainly nothing beyond this present world. I prayed for her, but the contrast with the previous room was overwhelming. This room had an “odor of death,” while the other one an “odor of life,” hope of the glorious liberty of the sons of God!
How much this reminds me, and I hope you as well, of the gospel message, “Seek ... the Lord while He may be found, call ... upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:66Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: (Isaiah 55:6)), and, “Now is the accepted time ... now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)). But these people still had an opportunity to know Christ, or to know him better! There was one more room. This final patient was a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). She had a loving family around her, a pastor praying with her, and a Bible in her room. And, unlike the other two patients I had cared for, she died that weekend. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). My work with this elderly woman did not lead me to a solid conviction of her eternal destiny, but there were some signs that gave me hope.
Three patients: Two are still living and have the opportunity to be saved; the other has crossed that great gulf and will either be part of the resurrection of life or the resurrection unto judgment!