Cancer Blog #35
By Brian Zimmerman
Begun on July 31, 2021
Email: dyingman1@yahoo.com
My Dying Words
Entry #35 – Learning how to die properly
May 3, 2022
[Phil 2:28-30 NASB95] 28 Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned [about you.] 29 Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard; 30 because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.
[1Ti 4:8 NASB95] 8 for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and [also] for the [life] to come.
Is there a way to prepare for dying? I guess my answer would have to be a wishy washy yes and no. Yes, in one sense, as the Scriptures are full of talk of death and what our view of it should be. No, in another sense, as everyone’s death, or cause of death, will be somewhat different. Even when dying of cancer, one person’s cancer may be similar, and yet very different from other people’s type of cancer, not to mention the person who has it may be of a different age or sex or race, etc. Dying of cancer is not like dying of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), a heart attack, a stroke, a car accident, a fall, etc.
Why, then, do I even raise the original question, viz., is there a way to prepare to die? Because we should realize that no one except God knows the how and when of your death. The manner of your death will likely be a surprise to you (as it was to me). You may have a family history of, say, heart disease, and have had several relatives, maybe even a father and uncle, who died from a heart attack. But, that means you also had many relatives who didn’t die of heart disease. Of course, as my dad used to say, “You have to die of something.” As we all believe that simple truth, what we begin to focus on is the manner of our death, and not the fact of death. We begin to look for ways to compensate for or correct our genetic flaws, such as a predisposition to heart disease. But, to think that we can thereby congratulate ourselves as we eat better and exercise more than the general population is to confuse our attempt to extend our life (which may or may not be successful) with the idea that we can avoid death, and that is obviously pure folly. Yet I think most of us believe deep down inside that death can be avoided, or at least managed or controlled like many other problems in our lives. The idea of preparing for death seems easier to accept when we think we will have time to prepare later, as we intend to die much later.
I’m here to tell you, however, that death is not so easy to manage or control. A runner may die of a heart attack, the healthiest eater die of cancer or a heart attack or a stroke. There is no way to cheat or manage our own death. Is there no point, then, in attempting to extend our lives? The simple answer is, of course, yes, there is a point to such an attempt. Life is a gift that should not be lightly treated or tossed aside. But, it’s not as simple as believing, therefore, that extending life is the highest good. As Christians, we serve someone who was born for the sole purpose of dying. The servant is not above the master, nor the pupil above the teacher. If our master and teacher spent a short life preparing to die, how can we do less? Our lives cannot be governed by a denial or avoidance of death as our greatest concern.
As we see in the initial two quotes, Paul had a different view. Healthy eating and exercise, etc., are good things, but their worth should be diminished in our estimation by the fact that their value is only counted in this life, as is money, or acquiring skills, or achieving career success. They are good, but not in the way our culture views them. They are only for this life, and our death will make a mockery of them. None of those things will be of any benefit after death when we face our Creator on Judgment Day. When I worked for HP, I remember reading a company newsletter that reported an interview with some very senior VP who was retiring. One of his comments was especially jarring; despite his obvious success in his job, he said: “I wish I had spent more time with my family.” Retirement for many who have been successful in their work is a kind of death and often an occasion for reflection on what we have valued over the course of our lives. Even our own review of our lives at that point may be disappointing.
Does that mean that the fact of death can be interpreted as a license to be lazy, obese, or careless, with our health? Of course not; it should instead cause us to reflect on what we have come to value. Are our values those of our culture, things that will be worthless at death, important only in this life? Or, like Epaphroditus, are we willing to value things that are more important than our death? That, then, is one way to help us prepare to die: look at what we have come to value: is it profitable only before death, or, as Paul says and we should ask: is it profitable for this life but also for the one to come? Chew on that a while and see what you think if you were to receive that terminal diagnosis today.
Next: Following Death: Cremation or Burial?