Your Last Twenty-Four Hours

Stop and think about this for a moment, the doctor just told you that you have twenty-four hours to live; what would you do with them? Understandably, the impact of hearing such words would probably knock most of us off our feet, sheer emotion would definitely consume the moment for most of us and then the reality of facing our own mortality.

The emotions of hearing those words we all would dread are not what I want to deal with here, because all of us react to situations differently. My question to us all is how you would live those last few hours before you slipped off into eternity.

Reality is doctors tell people every day that they only have a short time to live and they need to get their affairs in order. In fact, we all have had similar encounters within our own families. Nevertheless, can you imagine with me for a moment just what you would do if that time was confined to only one day?

Stop and ask yourself who is that person or persons that you really need to make things right with and ask or give forgiveness to. Remember you only have twenty-four hours so would you really have enough time to rectify all of the bad situations in your life. What if we all lived our lives in harmony with our family and those around us and there was no need to commit what precious time you had left to mending relationships.

Who would be that first person you would go visit, or would you call everybody you know and ask them to come over? In the time, you had left, reminisce about the good times or mourn the inevitable. Celebrate the life God gave you or bitterly shake your fist at Him and ask why?

Given the opportunity to take your child or grandchild on your knee, what words of wisdom would you want to impart to them? Are there memories from your own life that you would want to share with the entire family so that they can pass to future generations? Imagine trying to share a lifetime of memories in only a few hours, you probably cannot. However, if you had shared these prior to your last day, all could celebrate them.

Is there one thing that you never managed to do in your entire life, that given only a few hours, you would want to do? Would you celebrate your accomplishments, or realize that they mean nothing in the end?

The most important thing in our lives is where we will spend eternity, could you face that moment knowing your destiny, or would you want to say one more prayer. How much of that last day would you spend thinking about eternity and being in God’s presence?

In your last few moments, could you take the hand of your spouse and children, tell them how much you love them, and will always be with them, or would you bitterly push everybody away? In reality by the end of today we will all be another twenty-four hours closer to eternity, how will you live the next day of your life?