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When the ugly subject of death comes up, a lot of words come to mind. Loss, sorrow, unexpected, to name a few. All those words, and many more, are negative. But there is a positive word worth pondering, and that’s ready.

Surprised

Let me illustrate. Years ago, I accompanied my parents on a road trip from the Charleston area of the South Carolina Low Country to Greenville in the Upstate. I was driving at the time. As we came over a rise on westbound I-26, a motor home had just crested an opposing rise in the eastbound lanes. Somehow coming down the slope, the driver lost control and veered off the road, eventually hitting a bridge abutment. Almost right away the vehicle began to catch fire.

I pulled over and ran across the median with my dad right behind me. Other people stopped. The motor home’s windshield had broken out, and I was trying to pull the man out through the opening. Someone gave me a coat to shelter my head and face from the heat. My dad aided my efforts by pulling from behind. Finally, the man broke free. He was barely conscious and moaning about his wife being in the back. But the fire had become too much, and it was impossible to locate or rescue her. She died in that crash.

Death was a total surprise that day. Was either of them ready? I don’t know.

That incident contrasts sharply with my deepest impression from an incident in my life years later. On a December morning, I headed into the woods near where we lived in Huntingdon, PA to go deer hunting. My destination was a permanent stand built between three trees eighteen feet off the ground. I climbed all the way up, and since it was still dark, I got a light out of my pocket to check the stand before crawling in. Satisfied, I pivoted slightly to put the light away, and the next thing I knew, I was falling.

The resulting injuries were sobering: multiple fractured ribs, transverse processes sheared off, an impact fracture of my left femur at the ball joint. But more sobering was the realization that I could just as easily have died in that fall. Yet the abiding comfort I have always taken from that day is that I do know that had I met death unexpectedly, I was ready.

Ready

Can a person really be sure of being ready for eternity? God’s Word says yes. In 1 John 5:13, the Apostle said:

“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”

But how? The preceding two verses tell us:

“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (vv. 11-12).

Verse 11 dispels a couple of wrong ideas.

“God has given.” Eternal life is a gift, not something we earn or merit.

“And this life is in His Son.” Eternal life is in and through God’s Son, Jesus Christ, not in anything else (e.g., the church) or anyone else (e.g., a priest).

Jesus made this point Himself in John 14:6,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Verse 12 fleshes it out:

“He who has the Son has life.”

To be forgiven of our sins and have eternal life, we need a relationship with Jesus Christ as our personal Savior from sin. God’s Word explains that we receive Him by turning to Him in repentance and faith. Repentance involves a willingness to confess and turn from our sin. A simple way to express this faith is by calling upon Him to save you.

“Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

“Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Forgiven

Thank God for His love in sending His Son to die on the cross for our sins!

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

We may not be able to avoid death, and death may or may not surprise us when it comes. But you can be ready, and readiness brings the comfort of settled hope (1 Peter 1:3-5,9). Come to Jesus. Confess your sins, and call upon Him to save you.

“He who has the Son has life.”

Copyright © 2025 Thomas Coleman

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