February 1, 2026
Have you ever tried to live your life like you were dying? Paul tells us we should in Colossians 3:3-5: “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”
When it comes to using money, do you act as if you’re dead? The widow with her two small copper coins, which make a penny, gave to God as if she were dying.
She gave all she had to Him, her entire livelihood, not holding back, not hoarding or living selfishly, but simply trusting in the Lord (Mark 12:42-44). And the God who made the world with just a word, who doesn’t need a single bit of money, saw her act of sacrificial giving and called her blessed.
When it’s time to gather family around the Word of God today, will you live like you are dying? The Christian dying does not speak of cricket or football, or work, or fortunes made. Instead, they always speak of Jesus, His Word, and His Spirit, close to them. As they draw into His presence, He is far more precious than life! So when you have come to listen, do you choose to listen well? Or do you tune out God’s Word in tiredness? Do you skip the Bread of Life to sleep, or play, or scroll and swipe?
When you interact with others, do you speak of Jesus as if you were dying? If you’re dead, no scorn can touch you, no persecutor’s torments hurt. No jail can keep the dead locked up. “We died before we came here!” declared Stephen Foreman[1] — and then he died in a foreign country, shot for giving God his all. Dying hurts the ones who are left behind, but once we’re dead, no man can touch us.
“When Christ, who is our life, appears, we shall also appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). Now, we’re living, yet in some way we have already died! Christ has died, and we are buried with Him—dead to sin and sin’s dominion. Alive to Christ, to God and heaven! We are free to truly live. We enjoy our lives on earth, but do so as if we were dead. No hell can touch us, no sin can claim us, no sorrow can truly overwhelm our souls. For when we’re God’s, and He is ours, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
[1] Stephen Foreman and his wife, Emily, left the United States to work as missionaries in a North African country where Christianity was illegal. He was 39 years old when he was murdered in 2009 by al-Qaeda operatives. The story of his life and death is told in his wife’s memoir, We Died Before We Came Here: A True Story of Sacrifice and Hope. Following his death, his wife continued their mission work, and the couple’s story was used to inspire other believers.