When Is A Person Ready To Die?
(II Timothy 4:6-8)

Throughout life we are preparing for something or someone. We seem to be forever making ready for some event. We prepare for school, for marriage, for our careers, for a family, for retirement. Strangely enough we spend almost all of our time preparing to live. It is as though we think we will live on and on.

Even though we know that life is fleeting, we act as if we will live forever. Hours pass into days, days pass into weeks, weeks pass into months, and months pass into years, and the first thing we know our life has passed altogether.

We ought to prepare to live. God wants us to enjoy life and to be prepared for it. However, death is a fact of life. The Bible assures us that "it is appointed unto men once to die" (Hebrews 9:27).

Our life is like a vapor, a morning mist that is soon burned off by the mid-day sun. We do not know about tomorrow. Therefore we ought not only to prepare to live but to prepare to die.

How do we prepare for death? When is a person ready to die? The scriptures give us the answer.
The apostle Paul tells us when he writes in

II Timothy 4:6-8: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

Paul describes his death as a departure. This is a naval term that means to weigh anchor and set sail.

I have stood on the shore and watched a ship pull away from the harbor. Gradually it becomes a mere speck and finally it disappears beyond the horizon. Someone might say as it disappears, "It's gone."

I think to myself, "Gone where?" Not out of existence, only out of sight.

That's a good picture of death for Christians. Death is a passing, not out of existence, only out of sight. Out beyond our sight is a whole new world of existence that we cannot see. That's what Paul had in mind here. There is no dwelling on the morbid side of death for him. His outlook is filled with optimism and hope. It is a powerful and positive view of life and death that is expressed here.

Paul stood on the edge of life and shook hands with death without the slightest fear or dread and said, "I am ready." This should be the attitude of every Christian. What is it that makes a person ready to live and ready to die? What can a person do to have that kind of calm assurance?

There are three things in this scripture.

1. First, a firm commitment in Jesus Christ.
When the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, he said he was ready to die because he had put his faith and confidence in the one who was able to keep him.

He said in II Timothy 1:12, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." The word "committed" used here is a banking term. It means to make a deposit in a place of safety and security. Paul had made his deposit with God through faith in Jesus Christ; thus his future was safe and secure.

No person is really ready to live or to die until he has made that same kind of commitment. Only by committing your life to Christ can you ever say, "I am ready." A commitment to Christ will allow us to face death with calm assurance.
Can you say this today?

As you make your journey in life, you may be able to make it through many of life's experiences in your own strength. But when it comes to crossing the vast expanse of death into eternity, only Jesus Christ is sufficient for us. We can stand on the banks of the river of death and peer out into eternity without any fear if we have made a commitment to Jesus Christ.

2. A second thing that can make us ready to die is a faithful life.

When we have done our duty, fulfilled our mission, and been true to our commitment, we can say, "I am ready". Paul had done that. He looked back over his past life and summed it up in three brief sentences. He said in II Timothy 4:7, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." All three of these statements are an expression of his faithfulness in living for Jesus.

Paul saw life as a struggle, a warfare, and he felt that he had fought the good fight. The fight was Jesus' fight and he had joined hand and heart with the Lord Jesus in battle. More than that, he had traveled the course that had been marked out for him. And throughout his lifetime he had guarded and been true to the faith. Now he was ready to die.

Any person who has committed his life to Jesus Christ and then lived faithfully can come to his hour of death with the same calm assurance.

3. Finally, Paul gives us a third thing that can make us ready to die, an assurance about our future!

He says, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

Paul says, "I have followed Jesus and I have lived a faithful life. Now, what remains for me is a crown of righteousness which the Lord has prepared for me." The crown Paul talks about is the victor's crown that was given to the winner of an athletic contest in the Greek games. It was made of oak, ivy, or laurel leaves and was symbolic of immortality. What Paul is saying is, "What remains for me is immortality which God has prepared through Jesus Christ. And it is not just for me, but for all those who love him." This is the kind of hope that sustains us in the face of death.

Death to the Christian is not the end.
Through Jesus Christ there is hope of more to come.

Here then, are the things that enable a man to look death in the face and calmly say, "I am ready."
A commitment to Christ,
a consistent walk,
and a certain hope in what Jesus has prepared.