Life Eternal

The Bible tells us in I John 5:13, These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you many know that you have eternal life. And of course John 3:16 states, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

I was in Cooper Hospital last Thursday for what I thought was a same-day procedure on my kidneys called a cystoscopy. Part of that procedure involved shooting dye up through the ureters into the kidneys in order to see what was going on in there so that we would know the next step to fix the problem. It was supposed to be an easy in and out, according to my plan. Well, as you know, if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans. The dye went up but did not come down. Uh oh. I was ordered to stay overnight for the next procedure, which is not what I wanted to do.

The plan was to put in nephrostomy tubes the next day at noon. Again – a same-day procedure. And again, it did not go according to my plans. The procedure started well after 3:30 pm and was more complicated than was expected, so I had to stay overnight again, causing my “self” to get involved and igniting my motto into living color. That motto is, “I do well until I show up.” So I got to spend another night on the 6th floor of Cooper Hospital, the floor where I lived for over 7 weeks this past summer and fall, where many came to know Christ as Lord and Savior. That is why I was there again. …but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23b).

On Saturday we met Carol, who was the reason we were really at Cooper. Cherri and I were walking around the hall when we saw her. She was a wounded woman, walking or more like wobbling aimlessly while using the wall as her crutch. We introduced ourselves and asked the nature of her being there. She said surgery, performed by the same doctor who saved my life last summer. Carol shared that she was scheduled to have the same complex surgery performed on me, only to have it cut short as they discovered malignant cancer which would end her life in the next few months. Cherri and I were saddened to hear that and immediately asked her about her state of mind. As she shared, I ventured into her relationship with Jesus Christ. She was brought up Catholic, knew the Apostles’ Creed, and had an idea of what Jesus did at the Cross. She wobbled and we escorted her to her room and into her bed. Cherri and I continued our walk and the discussion of where Carol was with the Lord. Was she saved? Did she know Jesus as Lord and Savior? We did not have a genuine peace and so we went and got a tract and knocked on her door.

We shared what it meant to be born again and how it was never too late (Mt 20:1-16, the parable of the landowner and the laborers – please read it!) to make Jesus Christ her Lord and Savior. And she did. She acknowledged out loud her belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and how He conquered sin and death that day at Calvary. In short, she became our sister in Christ, or as I said to her, “Carol, you just went from terminal to eternal.” At that moment I realized my selfishness; I had allowed self back on the throne and removed Jesus in my discouragement at being back in the hospital. I told Carol that I was not there to have doctors discover what was wrong with me so much as I was there to uncover all that is right with Jesus. Our purpose for staying for those two nights in the hospital was that we would have the privilege of meeting her and sharing Jesus with her, that in spite of the bad news of terminal cancer, she had the Good News of an eternal life in Heaven serving the King of Kings. With that, Carol openly wept, for she knew that in spite of her medical diagnosis, physically terminal, she was now spiritually eternal. – Joe Freeman is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a disciple in love with Jesus.

Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 9-11; 1 Thessalonians 1

Quote of the day: The elect are the whosoever wills, the non-elect are the whosoever wont’s. Dwight L Moody

Bible Memory: Teach my your way, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe with my whole heart. – Psalm 119:33-34