Dying Thoughts of a Godly Man

“Words and actions are transient things, and being once past, are nothing; but the effect of them on an immortal soul may be endless,” (Baxter, Dying Thoughts).

I came across this little book by Richard Baxter when my wife and I, along with some friends, decided to go through the Tim Challies reading challenge in 2019.

Though short, Richard Baxter’s Dying Thoughts is a wellspring of encouragement as I dwell on life, death, and days to come.

Baxter was an English Puritan who lived in the seventeenth century. Reflecting on Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain,” Baxter wrote his book at age seventy-six after losing many friends to old age, sickness, and martyrdom. In light of his age, and his life, Dying Thoughts is a powerful read and provides an insightful look into the mind of a man who wanted to ensure his love for Christ was genuine.

Baxter examines himself, confesses weaknesses, asks for forgiveness, and encourages us to do the same while also calling us to find our hope and joy in Christ.

Nothing morbid is to be found in Baxter’s focus on death. There is neither frivolity nor callous jokes. There is simply an old preacher dwelling on the implications of “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

And as Baxter’s book lacks morbidity, so does my reading of it. His book is a sobering reminder that one day we all will die, some sooner than others. That much is a guarantee.

“So teach us to number our days,” says Moses in Psalm 90:12, “that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” Like Baxter, Moses also reminds me that my days on earth are limited. Even when my wife and I were planning our wedding, searching for a house, and feeling excitement when we were contemplating our future together, I knew and still know this: one day either I will stand at her gravestone, or she will stand at mine.

That thought, left to itself, could depress even the most devout. Chastened by the Gospel, however, the thought inspires joy, sobriety, and earnestness - attributes that are necessary to take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

Knowing time with my wife, family, friends, co-workers, and everyone I meet is limited, I am constrained to spend it admonishing, encouraging, and, in some way, strengthening or furthering Christ’s kingdom.

The particulars of how that may look is anyone’s guess: Christ’s body is made of many diverse members. It certainly does not mean every time I meet with someone, however precious to me, that our activities only pertain to Scripture reading, prayer, and confession.

However, it does mean the time I spend should be spent on purpose. “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16).

God is glorified by jokes and time with friends; even the idea of a Sabbath was to relieve people of drudgery and monotony. A day of rest is a day of joy. So, too, is all leisure well spent.

 
After all, when Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:2 “Better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting” he did not mean that funerals really are better than parties He meant it as a reminder to number our days so we could appreciate how valuable life is. Meditating on death does not need to be a sorrowful endeavor.

Similarly, C.S. Lewis wrote, “There is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious” (The Last Battle, 195). ”That holds true, for true and lasting happiness and wonder does make one serious about the time spent. God created us to find our supreme and lasting joy in Christ. Therefore,  time spent trying to find it elsewhere is time wasted. Considering death is certain and life is short, the last thing I want is to waste God’s precious gift of time that I have on this earth.

Instead of focusing on death in and of itself, I think, as Augustine said, “They, then, who are destined to die, need not be careful to inquire what death they are to die, but into what place death will usher them,” (The City of God, 18). And thank God: death is not the end. Though we sorrow because death still stings, we rejoice because Christ is still King. All death will do for the Christian is usher him into His glorious presence.

That is what brings joy to my mortal frame.

This is what Baxter reminds me as I read his old pages: my joy, our joy, and the joy of every Christian through the ages will culminate in perfect joy on the other side of death. Joy unspeakable, joy that is full of glory, awaits. Focus, then, on what truly matters. Too often we are pulled and dragged away by our unruly passions and disordered desires. Reflecting on death and numbering our days teaches us to look at life rightly, which is to focus on Christ. Number your days so that you can have wisdom by focusing on the supreme and sovereign joy found in Christ alone.

May Baxter’s dying thoughts be my dying thoughts and the thoughts of all Christians at all times.

Buy Richard Baxter's Dying Thoughts.