Harry Reeder’s latest essay beings with last words and moves on to consider why they are usually a summary of what came before, not a new beginning.
Over the years I have developed a curiosity which is hopefully not morbid but it does deal with death. That curiosity is a fascination with the recorded “last words” of men and women as they approach the last moments of life. Of course I am particularly interested in the last words of believers and have recorded many “last words” in my journal specifying who said them and if they were believers. I mentioned this in a Sunday evening sermon recently and the result was another addition to my journal. It came from one of our dear, Godly ladies who had been and was fighting cancer which had been deemed incurable and inoperable. Knowing that unless the Lord intervened that she only had a few weeks left she came up after the sermon with her emaciated body yet twinkling eyes and a sly look. She reminded me of her soon demise and very likely I would not be there when she died so could she give me her last words ahead of time. I smiled and said yes, if I can pray with you. Her reply was, of course and then she gave me her “last words.” She said, at my funeral my last words were “Y’all come!” Knowing her heart for personal evangelism and her love for lost to come to Christ, on the one had it was not surprising but on the other hand it was inspiring.
The Apostle Paul give his last words in his last epistle facing death in a roman prison while writing to his son in the faith, Timothy. They are found in II Tim 1:12 and are highly informative and gloriously encouraging. “I suffer these things and I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and he is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that Day.”
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