“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)
Eight years ago, I laid in a hospital bed dying from a serious stomach infection. I had waited too long to get help, and my wife was told how important the next few days were going to be in my recovery.
I didn’t know what she knew. In fact, one morning, very early, my surgeon came by to check on me. He was a world-class surgeon who let his senior resident make his early morning rounds. The fact he was in my room startled me. I asked my wife, “Am I dying?” I will never forget her answer. She did not say “no”. Instead, she said, “You’re very sick.” I knew then I was in trouble.
Knowing the infection and pain medication I was taking could make me unable to make any decisions about my health, I asked my wife to make sure either she or my father in-law were at my bedside should a decision need to be made for me.
For the next 12 days, I laid in a hospital bed unable to eat or even have a sip of water. I can remember my wife giving me small chards of ice for my parched tongue; and I remember being told a lot of people were praying for me.
My pastor visited me, which meant a lot since my hospital was two hours from my home church. But it was the visit from a retired pastor – who was an interim minister at my in-law’s church – that taught me an invaluable lesson about salvation.
There he stood at the foot of my bed, preaching as if there was a congregation of hundreds seated in front of him. I was drifting in and out of consciousness, finding it very hard to stay awake, and embarrassed to drift off in sleep. But it didn’t stop him or dilute his sermon. He preached a sermon on salvation as hard that day as any Sunday he stood in a pulpit.
I have thought about that day hundreds of times. He taught me some valuable lessons about salivation, lessons we should take into our own relationships with friends and family.
1. Salvation is personal. Jesus speaks to hearts one at a time, and can reach anybody, anywhere. You don’t have to be in a church to make a salvation decision.
2. People who go to church and look like they’re saved may not be. Tares look just like wheat. Don’t make the fatal mistake of believing that someone is saved because they go to church with you.
3. We should never be ashamed to tell others about Christ. I was already saved, but the retired minister at my bedside was taking no chances.
4. People don’t go to heaven because they die. To this pastor, that hospital room represented his last opportunity to make sure I knew where I was going if I did not leave that hospital room alive.
So as crazy as it might sound for a pastor to be preaching at the foot of my bed, I could not be more grateful that there are men and women of God who share the salvation message with the vitality and passion that I heard that afternoon. If it seems foolish to you, think about the bible verse at the beginning of this column: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)
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