It’s Official: I’m Dying

by Terry Wane Benton

The Great Physician told me that I am going to die. I don’t know how much time I have left, but it won’t be long. The official report is found in Hebrews 9:27. I’ve noticed that people tend to show greater compassion to the dying than to the healthy. I notice that I have shown greater sympathy for those who have gotten an earthly doctor’s report indicating cancer in the body, than for those who the Great Physician has diagnosed with cancer of the soul, which is sin. Also, the Great Physician is never wrong, and He has said that we have a problem worse than physical death: eternal, spiritual death (Romans 3:23; 6:23).

In view of the diagnosis of the Great Physician, we should treat each other with greater compassion, and we should seek to get the Great Physician’s remedy for soul-cancer into the hands of the dying (which is everyone). Everyone is dying, and most people are dying physically with a cancer of the soul that will ruin them eternally. They need to know that there is only One Physician Who can remedy the inward man, even though the outward man perishes (II Corinthians 4:16f). Compassion should lead us all to share this vital information with everyone we can influence through this and any other medium.

Also, we need to treat each other as if we realize this human being will only live a little while. It’s official! The Great Physician says, “it is appointed” for us to die, and after this, the judgment. How would you treat someone differently when you learn they are dying?