Kent R. Hughes related the following story about a pastor who helped a thirty-eight-old mother of four to die.
In the late 1970s, Margie, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of four, was hooked up to a ventilator. Unlike most other patients, she was not heavily sedated. She and her husband had just been told that she had only a few days to live because of the total respiratory failure she had experienced that very morning. Young Margie took a writing pad and asked her pastor, Dr. Darryl Bodie, the bare question “How do you die?”
In the providence of God, Pastor Bodie had been studying the last words of Jesus from the cross and was led to use them to frame a template for what to do when dying.
The following template has been used over the years to help believers finish their journey. Note: these are not strict applications of Jesus’s words, but principled applications of his dying expressions and actions, which may help believers die well.
First word: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Who do you need to forgive? Will you let them know? Is reconciliation possible?
Second word: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Who in your life do you need to talk to about salvation?
Third word: “Woman, behold, your son! . . . [John,] behold, your mother!” (John 19:26–27). For whom do you need to make provisions as you depart?
Fourth word: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). Because Jesus suffered this separation for you, you will never suffer separation from God. You need not be afraid.
Fifth word: “I thirst” (John 19:28). As your dying physical needs cry out, take the help offered.
Sixth word: “It is finished” (John 19:30). You can rest in Christ’s finished work on the cross and anticipate the beginning of eternal life with him in heaven.
Seventh word: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46). You will enter the hands of a loving heavenly Father who will care for you from now on. What a comforting thought!
In the next few hours, Margie did all the seven last words. Her final breath was, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Kent R. Hughes, The Pastor's Book (pp. 526-527). Crossway. Kindle Edition.