I was in a restaurant called Mission BBQ recently with my wife. It was centered around the military. While I was eating my brisket and beans, I noticed a sign above my head that read, “If you knew today was your last day, how would you work?”

If you knew today would be your last day, as a Christian, as a follower of Christ, as a pastor, as whatever you’re called to do, how would you do it?

When Paul was getting near the end of his life, he wrote to Timothy, “Discharge all the duties of your ministry. Do the work of an evangelist. Endure hardship—don’t be a baby. Keep your head in all situations. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near” (see 2 Timothy 4:5–6).

“The time for my departure is near.” In other words, Paul was saying, “My life is like a sacrifice to God. It’s being poured out for Him.” What a great testimony to be at the end of your life and say, “I did it for Him.”

No one’s perfect. But Paul was looking back and saying, “The time for my departure is near, and I’m going to die doing what He called me to do.” That’s some kind of consecration.

A lot of believers, though, don’t want to depart and be with the Lord. But Paul said he would “prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8, NIV). He also said, “I’m caught between two things. Should I stay, or should I go and be with the Lord? Because I’m always so near death” (see Philippians 1:23).

I don’t know what kind of Christianity it is, but a lot of Christians are so at home in this world, wicked as it is. When they hear things like, “We might die today or tomorrow,” or, “The Lord might come,” they say, “Oh, really? But I had a timeshare in Saint Kitts, and I wanted to be there. Couldn’t it just wait until I get, like, three or four days there? I paid good money for that.” Let’s look forward to heaven, not Saint Kitts.

But heaven is not real to most people. We need to pray for each other that God will make heaven real to us so we won’t be lamenting, “Oh, my life’s coming to an end.”

We’re all going to die. We’re different colors, from different backgrounds, with different food tastes and no two fingerprints the same, but the one thing that is common to all of us is that we’re going to die. And as Christians who love Jesus, we know where we’re going when we die.

Paul called it his departure. Death is not the end of anything. Paul said that his real self, his spirit, his soul was going to be with the Lord. He was departing. So Paul encouraged Timothy, “You do your work. Keep at it, because my time is coming to an end.”

Notice what else Paul said here: “The time for my departure is near.” How did he know that?

The Lord showed him.

The Holy Spirit can show us things like when we’re going to die? Yes.

I knew about a great woman of God who worked in a Bible school decades ago in New England. God had healed her several times, and as she got older, she still had amazing strength. Then she got sick, and people came to pray for her. She told them, “Don’t pray for me now. The Lord showed me that I’m going home.”

We’re all going to go home. We’ll be getting out of this rat race and this evil world full of trouble, and we’ll go to perfect peace and rest and joy, with no temptation, no hassles. We’ll be with Jesus. And the Holy Spirit can show us when we’re going home.

Now some people don’t believe the Holy Spirit is even alive today on earth. In fact, as A. W. Tozer once noted, the Holy Spirit could go back to heaven and a lot of churches wouldn’t notice it for four or five years, because they do church without the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit can lead us, guide us, make us aware of seasons in life, of a change in God’s will for us. And He can even warn us, “You’re coming home.”

So if today was our last day, how would we work?

Would we be sitting back and just chilling? No. I think we would give everything, because it would be the last time we could do it.

If today was the last day we could tell people that we love them and appreciate them, how would we do it? Once we’re gone, we can’t tell them.

So let’s tell someone today that we love them and encourage someone who’s blessed our lives. Let’s go out of our way and do it, because we never know. This could be the last day.

Prayer

Lord, help us to live today with eternal purpose, pouring out our lives fully for Your glory in everything we do. Keep our hearts sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading so we may love deeply and look forward to our home with You.

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