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I’ve never heard of one. I’m sure they happen from time-to-time, but I’ve never heard of anyone on their deathbed gathering their loved ones close and recanting their faith in Christ.

I’ve witnessed people reaffirming their faith, and I’ve witnessed people lamenting their lack of faith, but I’ve never heard of anyone saying they were wrong to have spent their life in faithful devotion to God.

People on their deathbeds don’t do that. They don’t regret focusing on eternal matters. They don’t regret living with integrity, and loyally loving their loved ones. They don’t wish they spent more time pursuing the American Dream, and less time being concerned about God’s heart for the suffering of humanity around them.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “(God) has put eternity in their hearts,” and nowhere is this innate sense of eternity more clearly seen than by those people on their deathbeds who are transitioning out of this world and in to the next.

If the dutiful Christian life were a useless, wasted cause, dying loved ones would tell us so. But they don’t. And their dying affirmation of faith speaks a volume of sermons to us.