Jim Stewart writes:

Recently I had the honor of preaching my dad’s funeral sermon. The Lord took him home after many years of deteriorating health. In the previous six months my dad talked more and more about going to heaven. He got his affairs in order and told my mom, “I just want to go.” My dad was a strong willed man. He endured eight years of dialysis. He loved his family and friends and life, but there came a time when he was ready to leave it all to go to be with the Lord.

As I thought about his life I realized that there are two times in life when the things of this world have no interest for us, when they have no hold on us. The first is at the very beginning of life when we are totally unaware of anything but our immediate bodily needs. The second time is at the end of life.

When we come to grips with the reality we are not going to get better and in fact our end is near, our focus changes. Cars, houses, bank accounts, our favorite toys, etc. lose their hold on us when the pain and sickness that often precedes our end is upon us. Richard Baxter in his writing “Directions for a Peaceful Death” makes the point that God is good to us to send these afflictions to wean is from the things of this world and cause us to look to Him. God gives each of us just what we need because of His love for us and by His sovereign control of all things to the end that we are anxious to leave the world behind and be with Him. How great is His grace!

Thinking through all that cause me to wonder how attached I am to the things of this world and how freely I will let go when the Lord calls me home. We should pray that we would not be so enamored with “things” that we would waiver in our desire to be with our Lord.