One Hundred Percent

A former work colleague — we’ll call him Ben — had previously made his living by selling life insurance, and like most sales people, he had accumulated a repertoire of battle stories, tests of wills between one trying to sell a product to those hesitant to buy it. In one such conversation, the prospect demurred, saying, “Well, what are my chances of dying, anyway, Ben?” The salesman kept his professional composure and replied matter-of-factly, “Oh, about a hundred percent.” Recalling the encounter years later, Ben described the look on the buyer’s face—stunned. “He looked as though this was the first time he had truly considered his inevitable demise.”

Death awaits us all; there are no exceptions. Israel’s King Solomon observed, “There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and the unclean; for the person who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice.”¹ We naturally fear death, and our fear takes different forms. Ben’s life insurance prospect, for instance, apparently lived in denial. Contrastingly, the ailing Hezekiah, when told he was at death’s door, “prayed to the Lord . . . and wept bitterly.”² No denial here, just abject grief. God answered the king’s prayer, promising “I will add fifteen years to your life,”³ yet Hezekiah ultimately joined the “one hundred percent.” Likewise, every person Jesus ever healed in the Bible eventually died. And oddly enough, herein lies our hope.

For Jesus did not come to sentence us to eternal existence in a fallen, painful, and unjust world; rather, He came so that “what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”⁴ Jesus came so that “through [His own] death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”⁵ Then may we cower no longer at death, but run boldly, purposefully, and confidently toward life. For through Christ death is destroyed, and in Christ we live forever. One hundred percent.

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 3:13-14 ESV

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”⁶ Amen.

¹ Ecclesiastes 9:2 NASB
² Isaiah 38:2-3 ESV
³ Isiah 38:5 ESV
⁴ 2 Corinthians 5:4 NIV
⁵ Hebrews 2:14-15 ESV
⁶ John 6:68-69 ESV