7. Resolved, Never to do anything which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life
It is hard for me to imagine myself living the last hour of my life. But that would be the appropriate context to think about what things I would be afraid to do in such last hour. Without such context, this resolution is really hard to apply.
That's no wonder, because if we review current statistics, we'll find that few people die young while most people age up to 70. Based solely on that, I would think it likely for me to die an old man. But should I place my trust on statistics? Nope. The fact that I woke up today and found myself still alive is a miracle. I grow shocked at countless people who don't give a thought to why they are still alive. That is taken for granted as the rising of the sun every morning.
But one day our sun will rise no more. Either utter darkness or unspeakable glory awaits us on the other side of eternity.
Taking it all together, what would you be afraid to do if you knew you were living your last hour? Or what would you do in that last hour? Would you talk to Jesus like the repenting good thief or like the scornful one? What would you do to your body then? How would you treat your own soul? How would you view others? What would you say to your unbelieving friend or relative who would visit you or call you in your agonizing bed? Would I live like that?
"Read Bible. Believe Jesus." -- last and trembling words of a frail old lady on her dying bed to her unbelieving brother, as narrated by her son, now a minister of the gospel of Jesus.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:8)
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