Two Ways to Die
There’s an old story about a servant who met Death in the market. Terrified, he rushed to his master and begged for a horse to flee to the distant town of Samarra. Later that day, the master met Death himself and asked why she had frightened his servant. “I didn’t mean to scare him,” she replied. “I was simply surprised to see him here because I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”
The story reminds us of a sobering truth: no one can escape death. What matters is not whether we die, but how we die. Jesus once said, “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). In those few words, He described two ways to die: in your sins, or in Him.
The Bad Way: Dying in Your Sins
To “die in your sins” means to leave this world unreconciled to God, carrying guilt that was never surrendered to Christ. It’s not that God refuses forgiveness but it’s that people often refuse the One who offers it.
We chase relief and satisfaction through success, pleasure, or belonging, but those moments fade. They are glimpses of a deeper rest found only in knowing God. To reject Him is to close the door to that rest forever. Jesus warned the religious leaders of His day that unbelief, the refusal to trust who He truly is, would lead them to die in their sins. The same danger remains today: when we define God by our expectations instead of His revelation, we end up missing Him entirely.
The Better Way: Dying in Christ
But Jesus also offers a better way to die in Him. To die in Christ is to die forgiven, secure, and alive forever. Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus comforts His followers: “I go to prepare a place for you… that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2–3). What was a warning to unbelievers became a promise to believers.
To believe in Jesus means more than agreeing with His teachings; it means entrusting your whole self to Him, without a backup plan. Like a climber trusting the rope that holds him, faith clings completely to Christ’s strength, not our own.
To die in Jesus, you must first live in Him, daily depending on His grace, resting in His forgiveness, and letting His truth shape your life.
Two Paths, One Choice
There are only two ways to die:
In your sins: apart from God, carrying the weight of unbelief.
In Christ: forgiven, renewed, and destined for eternal life.
Death is inevitable, but despair is not. The same Jesus who warned of dying in sin also died for our sins so that in Him, death becomes not an end but an entrance into life.
Which way will you choose?
