The Day I Met with a Dying Man

“Dad is dying. And he’s backslidden. Can you go see him?” the daughter said in desperation.

Her dying dad’s parents had been pastors who’d long since gone to heaven. And their son had turned his back on Jesus from their pastoring days.

And can you just imagine the parents’ despair for all those years?

But now the doctors were giving him a week to live. And I was going to meet him.

It was not a time to pull punches. “You know what you need to do,” I said to him. “You need to get right with God and you need to do it now.”

There was no hesitation on his part. There was no pushing it away. The dad (the son!) who’d long since left the Lord and walked his own path – and whose faithful parents died while he was still in that state – he prayed the sinner’s prayer with me and was reconciled with God. (Romans 10:9-10, 13)

I preached at his funeral a week later.

Now somebody needs to hear what I’m about to say. And then you just may need to use my same words with somebody else. Here goes…

You don’t dare die on your kids and leave them wondering if you made it to heaven or not. You don’t dare die on your kids that way.

And don’t you dare let your parents (and other loved ones) suffer over your unfaithfulness to Christ.

Are you hearing me?

You might also be interested in:

• How to Receive Christ (in 30 seconds)
• I Was in the Room When She Died