Last weekend, I had a friend of many years come from Indiana to visit. A while back, he was diagnosed with stage-4 lung cancer.

After several rounds of chemo, he is now trying a new treatment. Things aren’t going the way he would like physically, but he is keeping the faith and trusting the Lord for his future. Our hope and prayers for him is that either by treatment or a miracle, he will experience healing.

The truth of the matter is that no matter what happens, he is a winner. If physical healing takes place, then he has more years to serve his purpose here on Earth. But if not, he gets to enjoy eternity in the place the Lord has prepared for him.

The Apostle Paul talks about this in Philippians 1, where he says,  “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.”

The thing that matters the most is not when or how we will die, but if we are ready to go when that time comes. The Scriptures tell us that the only way to get ready is by choosing to follow Jesus Christ. Jesus said he is the only way to get into a right relationship with the Father, which is the requirement to be able to get into heaven.

We hear a phrase like, “he or she lost their battle with cancer,” but the battle that really matters the most is the spiritual one. If we lose life’s battles, we still can be winners in the end.