Vol.XVI No.I Pg.8
March 1979

Stuff About Things

Robert F. Turner

Two men sitting upon a park bench were exchanging life-long observations. One rubbed his chin and sighed, "Have you noticed," he asked, "that the vast majority of people get sick before they die?"

The second man thought about that for a while, then observed sagely, "Yeah — very few die healthy."

I might add that it is this way in the spiritual world too. Very few die spiritually, at the height of their sound (healthful) active Christian life. They first grow "weak and sickly" and then they "sleep" the sleep of spiritual death (1 Cor. 11:30). We do not "just happen" to leave the Lord. We neglect our exercise, fail to feed on the word, and carelessly mingle with the filth of the world. When we "come down" with something, we make no effort to correct it. We grow weaker; and when brethren urge us to take the proper medicine we become angry, and shout that there is nothing wrong with us. And finally we die! We are no longer sensitive to the needs of the soul; our conscience is seared and dead.

A doctor once told me about taking a man's medical history for his records. He asked the man if his parents were living, and was told that both of them were dead. "And what was the cause of their death?" he asked. The man thought for a moment, then replied, "I don't really know: but anyhow, it wasn't anything serious."

Apparently the man meant their death was not caused by cancer, diabetes, or something like that. But whatever is serious enough to take one's life is serious enough. We may congratulate ourselves upon our freedom from murder, and die of anger. We may never steal, but die of covetousness. And some people seem to die of nothing more serious than nothing. They just "rest" themselves to death.

My files contain this quotation:

On The Plains Of Hesitation Lie The Bleachened Bones Of Countless Millions Who, At Dawn Of Victory, Sat Down To Rest, And Resting, Died!

Brother, death is serious, regardless of what kills us.

Since "Very few die healthy" the thing to do is stay healthy. This may take more doing than we can muster in the physical realm, but we can live in Christ so that to die is gain.