I had the opportunity to affirm the gospel and the hope of eternal life to a patient that was at the point of dying in a local hospital. His name is Mr. Genaro. His life had come to the final stage, and was dying of cancer. His heart was ready to shut down very soon. I had met him previously in other visits to the hospital when I went to evangelize. One of his relatives is a brother in the faith, and he had asked me to come and visit Mr. Genaro again to bring him words of hope and eternal life.

I went to visit Mr. Genaro to announce to him the gospel of salvation. He had already heard the gospel, and from what his family members had told me, he was believing in Christ Jesus. With this in mind, I devoted myself to affirming to him the foundational truths of the biblical gospel to make sure that Mr. Genaro really had reached the point of conviction concerning the gospel.

And as I did this, I heard this encouraging and very clear response: “Yes, I believe in the Lord Jesus as my only sufficient Savior. I love Him.” In that moment I was moved as I listened to Mr. Genaro say these words in a cracking and quiet voice, but at the same time a voice full of certainty and clarity. So, I began to encourage him with words of hope and the promise of future glory for everyone who has fixed their confidence in Christ, who said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.” Also, I encouraged him with biblical descriptions of what heaven will be like and what awaits us as the children of God in the glory to come.

But what most encouraged Mr. Genaro was the following passage from 2 Corinthians 4:6-8: “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” From this passage, he understood plainly that the moment he dies he will go to his home to be with the Lord. “I’m going to see my Lord. I want to be with Him now.” Those were the last words that I heard from Genaro that day.

Three days later I returned to the hospital to visit him, but he was no longer there. They had taken him back to his town to die in his home. The following week I received news about him from a relative of his, who said, “Genaro is with his Lord, in his heavenly home.” All that day I was meditating in the passing nature of our life on this earth and the glory that awaits each child of God.