Dedication – To my good friend, a devout Christian, and a studious lady; Dorcas Asare.
Yes, I am planning to die so that I would not be killed. You probably think I am simply mad for making such a fatuous assertion. Well, that bizarre expression is so profound though at a superficial level, it sounds ridiculous. Ha-ha, “I plan to die” does not necessarily mean I am contemplating suicide. God forbid! The above title is a very philosophical statement which I borrowed from the late Dr. Myles Munroe. He once taught about death and I was struck by the following paraphrased sentence, “If you don’t complete your purpose in life on earth before you pass away, then you were ‘killed’ and didn’t ‘die’.” Remember, it takes a critical thinking ability to understand this revelation.
Moreover, you cannot imbibe the import of this revealing message if you know very little about a man’s purpose in life. For all those who gave up the ghost without completing their divinely assigned purposes were killed and did not die. “Die” in this article differs from the conventional definition which says, “To stop living or existing as a human being.” Biologically, your heart stops functioning when you kick the bucket. Spiritually, your spirit departs from your body when you kick the bucket. However, for the purposes of this write-up, to die is to simply finish one’s destined purpose.
Now I want to use Martin Luther King Jr.’s mind-boggling story to prove that we all have to plan to die so that we will not get killed. This civil rights advocate actually planned to die; he was never killed though he got assassinated. In fact, he had fulfilled his purpose in life on planet earth by the time he was murdered at age 39. No wonder in his popular speech ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,’ he strongly declared without an iota of fear or doubt that, “… We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind… I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man…” Surprisingly, King was assassinated the next day — April 4, 1968 — after delivering that prophetic speech at a temple in Memphis.
Therefore, I ask you now, “Are you prepared to die or to get killed?” Think deeply about it! But before you plan to die like the late Martin Luther King Jr. or even Sir Article who is still alive, you need to discover your own purpose as an individual and commit all your soul to it in your lifetime. For me, I consciously work towards completing my purpose — to impact a multitude of lives in the world with my gift of writing — on a daily basis. I am living to die for my writing passion all the days of my life on earth. Besides, let Dr. King’s powerful quote galvanise you into positive action; “If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”