Preparing to Die Well

Gary Kerr
05/19/13 - Attitude

I love to read. I do a lot of reading of all kinds, including things to help me in my work of preaching. However, I also try to set aside some time every day to do some "recreational" reading on a variety of subjects, usually history-related. Several years ago I enjoyed very much reading Robert V. Remini's three-volume biography of Andrew Jackson, our eighth president. The second volume of that set is entitled The Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832, and in it I found the following story.

In June, 1832, a massive cholera epidemic hit the United States, having been transported to this country from Europe. It has been estimated that between June 1st and November 1st, some three-thousand people died from this disease, and one of the hardest hit cities in the U.S. was Washington D.C. Nearing the end of his first term, President Andrew Jackson, already in poor health at age 65, was warned by his family back in Tennessee to get out of Washington and return to the Hermitage, his plantation home near Nashville, to ride out the epidemic. Jackson eventually did return to Tennessee, but not until July. Prior to his departure (June 21st), Jackson wrote a letter to his beloved daughter-in-law, Sarah, to calm her fears for his health. In that letter, he said, in part:

To be honest, this statement took me by surprise. Jackson spent most of his life a skeptic at best, believing most if not all organized religions were out to take money from the masses, and were harmful to society. He did claim to accept Christ, on the urging of his wife Rachel, just prior to her death in 1828, and he "professed" religion from then until his death in 1845. However, even his admiring biographer Remini refers to the above statement as "pious fatalism," the last hope of an old man who desperately missed his wife and wanted some hope that he might be with her again.

Whatever Jackson's spiritual condition might have been, I believe he expressed poignantly and accurately a Scriptural truth that we all must accept. The author of the book of Hebrews says, "And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment" (9:27). Jackson was right! We all have to die, and we will all stand before God in judgment. How much calmer, how much more serene, how much more composed could we be approaching our own deaths than knowing that we had "lived well," and that we were prepared to face that judgment of God and hear Him say, "Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34).

What about you? Are you striving to "live well" so that you can go to Heaven? If not, then you are, in the words of a wonderful old song, "unprepared to meet your God," and should face the prospect of your own approaching death with alarm! Why not correct that situation while you have opportunity? When you do, you will know what Jackson was talking about, what Paul called that "peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension" (Phil. 4:7).