Moments of true clarity are all too rare in our pampered, distracted lives.

We seek endless entertainment, filling our days with buzz, gossip, sports, and movies to avoid the inevitable truth: we are all going to die.

Unlike our ancestors, we don’t witness death constantly. We don’t even consider how lucky we are to have escaped what they faced—infant mortality, death in childbirth, more frequent wars, and ever-present disease and poverty.

So, when someone like former Republican Senator Ben Sasse announces that he’s been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, it puts us face to face with our own mortality.

Sasse, at 53, had to tell his parents that they’ll probably be burying their son. He had to tell his daughters that he won’t be there to walk them down the aisle. Then, he gave the world this news—and he also gave the reason for a hope that is in him.

“Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence,” he wrote. “But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do.”

Even insulated from the constant experience of death as we are, we know that death is coming. It’s nearly impossible to watch the news........

© The Daily Signal