Sunday’s Church Service, Part 2

I have one last story to tell. While Shon was preaching about the ability of those suffering with barrenness — not just the inability to have children but any kind of burden or unfulfilled want, I was drawn back to an event that happened while I was in law school. We had just moved to Tuscaloosa and only recently placed membership at the University Church of Christ. An announcement was made asking for volunteers to sit with a dying member of the church, a former elder whose lung condition left him barely able to breath and with just a few days to live.

This wasn’t a comfortable sort of thing for me to do. I had never been around death or even serious illness, but I’d just graduated from college and figured I was supposed to do adult sorts of things. And so I volunteered.

The gentleman was bedridden and so ill that he could only talk while on pure oxygen. He moved in and out consciousness as I sat there. He only said a few words, but in a moment of strength and lucidity, he told me that he knew he was about to die. He said he was ready and looking forward to it. He then quoted —

(Tit 3:4-7 KJV) 4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,  5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;  6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;  7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

He said he knew he could never earn heaven but he had confidence in God’s grace. He knew he’d soon be in heaven. And he smiled and lapsed back into unconsciousness, exhausted by those few words. He died the next day.

I’d learned about grace at Lipscomb, but until then, I wasn’t sure I believed it. It was a tough doctrine for me, having grown up in North Alabama. But at that moment, I knew it had to be true. I wanted to be able to die smiling at ease in the grace of God. And I knew a lot of people who needed to hear the same message.

Here’s the point. No matter how tough your circumstances, you can make a difference. You can be so sick that you’re bedridden and barely able to gasp for breath — and still change a life. You can touch someone. And you never know how many others that person may help because of your words.

Never underestimate the influence of God through yourself. You can do good even the day before you die.

As Shon said, no matter how barren your live may seem, you can still be a blessing to others — and you’ll never know the full impact of your influence until you arrive at the pearly gates. When we get there, many of us will be astonished at what God has done through us.