Jay Musselman

   It has been said that "the ultimate apologetic is a dying man." The word apologetic comes from a Greek word, apologia. It is a legal term meaning, "defense." It has become a branch of Christian theology concerned with the intelligent presentation and defense of the Christian faith.
   All the affirmations to God as Creator and Designer are fine, but it is as the God of the dying that the Christian has a testimony to give that absolutely no one else can give.
   There are a lot of different kinds of good news, but there is little good news in "My argument scored more points than your argument." But the news that "Christ is risen!" really is Good News for one kind of person: The person who is dying.
   And guess what? We are all dying. We feel it every day as the aches and pains seem to increase each morning we rise. We know our bodies are giving out. Still, we seem to be able to block the realization of our mortality from our main consciousness most of the time.
   But you know what? When I do think about it, I don’t want to die. Yeah...I said it. I know I am a pastor. I know I’m supposed to be telling you, "Don’t worry about dying if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ." Yet, here I am joining in with you in your fears.
   But let’s be honest. Do you really want to die? No, you don’t. If the "Christian" attitude should be that of coveting death, our churches should be filled with Jim Jones type leaders along with congregations lined up at the Kool-Aid cooler to drink the poison. But thankfully this is not the case.
   Do you want to know why I think it is OK to not want to die? Because God created us this way. He created us with a survival instinct. He created us to know what would harm us and ultimately kill us and He inserted in us a desire to stay away from those things.
   He also created us with affections for others so that we would build community. Those same affections are what most cite as the main reason they don’t want to leave this earth or for why they are so sad when others depart. I love my wife, Darcy and my two kids, Marissa and Caleb. I don’t want to be separated from them. But that strong feeling is love that God has given us for one another. It’s a good thing.
   God has also given us the ability to enjoy His creation such as sunsets, waterskiing, Häagen-Dazs Swiss Almond Chocolate ice cream and hammocks among other things. Enjoying the blessings of a Heavenly Daddy given to His children is a good thing.
   But it still seems unspiritual for a Christian, much less a pastor, to say, "I don’t want to die." But I am just being honest.
   Oh, this attitude of mine has not held me back as a minister. I can still do an effective job at a funeral. In fact, probably some of my best moments in the pulpit have been talking about heaven and what the Bible says about death (seeing as how at almost every funeral I do there are quite a few people who tell me that they want me to do their funeral when they die).
   But there is always this one thing: it is the other guy who is dead. Not me. So I automatically have a more positive attitude.
   The other day I sat with a man who has terminal cancer. As I sat next to his hospice bed listening to how he had been trying to figure out why he was feeling so bad over the past three months; and how he had just last Tuesday found out that he had, according to doctors, two to six weeks to live; and how they said that they could prolong his life to maybe six months with some treatment, I was perplexed by what he said next.
   He said, "Of course, the choice was a no brainer."
   I have to tell you, I was a little uneasy in that I didn’t know what the answer was. But he said that God had graciously allowed him to hear a sermon on Heaven just two days before and he was ready to be in Heaven with Jesus. Why would he want to stay here in pain for another short couple of months when he could be in Heaven sooner?
   Jay Musselman is ready. He knows the truth of Heaven. Oh, he cries at the thought of leaving his wife. But that’s OK. He will miss riding motorcycles and working in his garden too. But Jay’s apologetic is his confidence is the overwhelming joy he will experience as he goes to be in the presence of His Lord.
    I have to tell you, Jay’s testimony of his expectations which are rooted in God’s Word about his future is an encouragement to this "dying" man. We must remember that each day dying people are waiting for the word about death and resurrection and the announcement of the Life Giving news about Jesus.


Wall helped found and is the current pastor of Magnolia Bible Church which currently meets in the West Montgomery County Community Development Center. Send comments to ConsiderThis@magnoliabible.org.