A cashier shared with me she had lost her husband last year. She told me when he was about to breathe his last breath, he asked her to put his Bible under his feet. In her grief, she didn’t immediately comprehend the meaning of the request. The man’s brother cleared it up for her. He explained his brother wanted to die standing firm on the Word of God.
I thought it was a beautiful picture and a sign of a life well lived. To never waver or compromise the truth of God’s Word is the calling of every follower of Jesus. Not only should we stand firm in times of trouble, but we must stand firm when things are easy and going our way. Never forget or take for granted the reason for our hope.
If you want to die well, you need to live well. Living well means living for the One who matters most. God created you in His image to be His hands and feet and glorify the Lord through the way you live. God knew us before we were formed in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:1-24, Jeremiah 1:5), and He will know us after this earthly body has rotted away. Each of us has been on His mind for all of eternity. Do we love Him enough to spend the rest of eternity by His side?
Standing firm on the Word of God means believing it all to be true. There are no errors, no missteps, and no loopholes. If you believe in God, you must believe His Word. It is how we come to know Him. What a blessing and privilege to have the written Word of God at our disposal. How tragic to reject it as truth! The minute you choose not to believe any part of it, you have invalidated your belief in any of it. Much like following Jesus is an all-or-nothing proposition, so is believing in His Word. Every stroke of the pen within it is reliable (2 Timothy 3:16-17). You can’t remove a single word.
I’ve read all the perceived contradictions (none of which pan out in careful study), and I’ve heard so many objections and rationalizations why certain parts can’t be believed. If you don’t believe His Word, then you don’t believe in God. You can’t accept Jesus and reject His Word. I’m sorry if that’s not convenient or easy to hear for you. The truth rarely is.
When you are standing firm on the Word of God, it will protect you from false teachers who make a living (and sometimes a fortune) off of twisting the scriptures to fit their message. They promise many good things will come into your life if you only believe. The only good thing—and it is the greatest thing!—the Bible promises for your life is salvation to those who will surrender their lives to Christ. The Bible doesn’t promise you health, wealth, success, or a long life. It only promises Jesus to those who will believe. And that’s more than enough for me. All we need is Jesus. All we need is His truth as revealed in His Word. When we are standing firm on the Word of God, there is nothing we lack. When you have Jesus, you have everything. And that is the key to both living and dying well.