British Airways Flight 206 was flying overnight from Miami to London. As they flew, passengers dozed, read, watched movies, and peacefully passed time somewhere high above the Atlantic Ocean. Then at 3 a.m. their peace was broken by terror – an alarm sounded and a recorded message informed them that the plane was about to crash into the ocean! Passengers screamed and cried as they felt that they were surely about to die.
But it turns out that the recorded message had been played by mistake. The flight crew quickly announced the mistake and instructed the passengers to ignore the previous warnings. There was no immediate danger, and everything was operating normally.
As I read that story, I wondered how the passengers viewed their “second chance” at life. How would we feel if we thought we were about to die, only to find out we were perfectly safe? Being confronted with death has a way of sharply refocusing our thoughts and priorities. Worldly things that seemed so important moments before would now find themselves void of any real value. The “really important” things would now be all that mattered – Is my life right with God? Do my loved ones know how I feel about them? Have I prepared them for life without me? What’s going to happen to me now? Are there any wrongs that I should’ve made right? I would think that these are the type questions that might race through our minds. Those who felt prepared for death probably faced the situation with more peace than those desperate for more of this life.
Furthermore, for the unprepared, would there be any change in life after the initial, euphoric relief of not dying had passed? Or would they quickly find themselves reverting back to old mindsets? Would they merely think, “Whew! That was close!” Then quickly move on. Or would they be deeply grateful for the second chance, and be determined to prepare better for death?
A king in the Bible, named Hezekiah, had such an opportunity. In 2 Kings 20, we are told of how he became mortally ill. God told Hezekiah through the prophet, Isaiah, that he was not going to recover and he would die. Hezekiah responded by praying as hard as he knew how. God heard those prayers, and granted him 15 more years. So how did he respond to his second chance? We are told in 2 Chronicles 32:25, “But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem” He wasted his second chance because of his pride. Would we do better?
The truth is that we are all on notice. James 4:14 cautions us, “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away”. People sometimes say, “Live each day like it’s your last!” We can’t literally do that because there are mundane chores of life that must be done, which we would surely forsake if we knew for certain that tomorrow would not come. We can’t skip work EVERY day. We can’t skip the dishes EVERY day. We can’t ignore the bills EVERY day.
However, we can live each day prepared for our last, by keeping our priorities in line, and by doing all the good we can with the opportunities presented to us by the day. Just three verses later James would say in James 4:17 “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” So let us do the good we can while we have the opportunity. That very challenge is issued to us in Galatians 6:10, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
If today were in fact your last, would you be okay with that? Or would you be filled with regret?
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