What if you had only one week to live

I asked the men in my weekly small group, “If you knew today you had only one week to live, what would you do?” We came up with a number of answers and then asked ourselves why we wouldn’t do those things soon—this week or this month or at the next family gathering—since none of us knows when we will die.

This is not morbid; it is just facing head-on what Scripture says—that our days are numbered. (A vivid reminder of this for me is seeing Nanci’s gravestone that has my date of birth only, then a dash. It awaits my date of death.) You are not going to live a moment shorter because you pause to think about death. You are not going to live a moment longer if you refuse to stop and think about death.

The question is, how prepared for death will you be if you have given minimal thought to it? How prepared for what lies beyond this life might you become if you gave it substantial thought, guided by God’s Word and His Spirit? As Matthew Henry said, “It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our last day.”

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Our lives on earth are a dot. It begins, it ends, it’s brief. But from that dot extends a line that goes out into eternity and never ends. If we’re wise, we’ll live not for the dot but for the line.

So I encourage you to ask yourself that same question: “If I died exactly one week from now, what would I wish I would have done?” Then, start doing those things. If you have something you’ll wish you had said to your loved one before they unexpectedly died, may I suggest that you say it to them today? I don’t mean tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year—I mean today. Hopefully both you and that loved one will still be around for a while. But the time will come when they won’t be around, or you won’t be around—and in fact, at some point neither of you will be around, so be realistic. Use your time wisely now to speak into the lives of those around you.

Let’s live each day with an awareness that one of these days will be our last day in this world under the curse. That’s partly good news because no longer living under pain and suffering and grief will be a good thing. But while we’re still here this is still a world of unparalleled opportunity, let’s use it well!