WINSDAY WISDOM 309
Death is certain. The percentages are perfect. It is one common experience we will all share. Death is not funny, but a little humor can ease some of the upcoming grief.
As a college student in Boston, I became fascinated with the engravings on old tombstones. As I walked the historic Freedom Trail, I passed many old cemeteries from the early stages of American history.
King’s Chapel Burying Grounds is the oldest cemetery in Boston (1630). Near the Boston Common is a post-Revolutionary War cemetery for Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and family members of Benjamin Franklin.
The stone markers. The obitual commentary. The shorthand summaries. One could imagine life stories connected to the last laughs.
- Ma loved Pa. Pa loved women. Ma caught Pa with another gal swimmin’. Here lies Pa.
- I told you I was sick. (Adjacent tombstone) And I was sick of hearing it.
- I would rather be reading this.
- Here lies my wife. Please let her lie. She’s now in peace and so am I.
- We will never know “Why” this chicken did not make it across the road.
- I made some bad deals, but I went in the hole with this one.
- My wife finally stopped talking so I feel like I am in heaven.
- Some thought she was sweet, some thought she was swell, but we all know she went straight to “H-E-Double hockey sticks.” (I think this was a cat.)
- Now I know something you don’t.
- Here lies the remains of Jonathan Peas under the sod, but he ain’t here, only the pod. Peas shelled out and went home to God.
A very popular testimony reads as follows: As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you shall be. Prepare yourself to follow me. (Read that again.)
On one of those tombstones, another phrase was etched into the rock: To follow you is not my intent, until I find out which way you went.
Appropriate humor can ease the stress and anxiety of certain death. But do not let the jokes distract you from the value of examining how you live your life. In fact, the #1 Textbook plainly and emphatically states that it is better to go to a funeral than to a party (Ecclesiastes 7:2).
Why? Hopefully, it will cause you to think about how you intend to live the rest of your earthly life.
Have you ever taken time to consider how your eternal existence can be eternal enjoyment?
God’s Word encourages us to contemplate our impending earthly demise and consider our days in order to make the most of our time. The #1 Textbook also points us to the endless eternity beyond so that we live now in faith, hope, and love.
The unknown part of death is one of the hardest concepts to grasp. We fear uncertainty.
Is that time something to be feared? Something to hope? Will it be gain for you? Or will it be loss?
Is death a bitter loss or sweet gain? There is a thin line between sweetness and bitterness. In cooking, it could be the amount of sugar.
In spiritual things, the difference is hope. In a multitude of unanswered questions seasoned with blame and bitterness, you can still hope in God. When hope gets fully mixed into the recipe, you cannot see it; you just taste it.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is sweet gain (Philippians 1:21).
Our hope is not wishful thinking or positive confession or some mystical religious concept. Our hope is a Person. His name is Jesus. Hope in Jesus shapes how we live and how we die.
Grief has an expiration date; so do trials. They remain for a little while, if necessary. Even a lifetime of suffering in this world is only “a little while” compared to the everlasting joy of heaven.
God promises you an eternal inheritance with everlasting blessings full of all God’s riches. Your inheritance is imperishable; it will never be used up. It is undefiled; it can never be messed up. It is unfading; it will never lose its value.
Mark Twain was blunt. “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
As one philosopher stated, it is not the date of birth or the date of death that matters most. It is what you do with the dash in between representative of the entirety of an earthly life. That dash has eternal implications.
ALL OF LIFE IS A STEWARDSHIP.
Enjoy life but live it for God. Rehearse dying. Yep, that is right.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon said this: “No man would find it difficult to die that died every day. He would have practiced it so often that he would only have to die but once more. Like the singer who has been through his rehearsals and is now perfect in His part and has but to pour forth the notes once for all and he is done.”
The “why” and the “dash” have everything to do with your stewardship and your legacy.
What will summarize your dash? What will be your tombstone testimony or memorial memory?
In life, we do not know exactly where the finish line is. We might get to a point where we know it could be in a few days, but most of the time it sneaks up on us.
All of us know we are going to die, but none of us expect it to come when it does. It usually comes too soon in our timetable of life expectancy. So the issue becomes how to finish strong with an ecstatic burst when you do not know the location or time of the finish line.
Finishing strong never just happens; it is empowered with wholehearted purpose.
What is your purpose for finishing strong? Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for Jesus’ appearing (2 Timothy 4:8).
There is a crown of righteousness for all who are faithful to Christ and hope to see Him as their coming King.
What is that crown of righteousness? Theological scholars offer several ideas. For me, biblical righteousness is the “life and love of Christ” placed inside of me by the grace of God. My practice of that life and love of Christ is still flawed here on earth because of the remaining seeds of self-love which continue to dwell within me and war for the control of my soul.
HOWEVER, THE VICTOR’S CROWN WILL BE THE “PERFECTION OF THE LIFE AND LOVE OF CHRIST IN ME” WHICH WILL BE FULLY DISPLAYED THROUGHOUT THE REST OF ETERNITY.
What joy for me and what joy for others who will then be loved by me! I will love them without any selfish tendencies, without any selfish motives, without any selfish expectations. I will love God and love others perfectly, just as Jesus loves me!
That is the championship reward for which we entrust ourselves to the God who causes all things to work together for our good. That is the joy for which we agonize and suffer now.
This championship crown is for all who are in love with the Jesus who appeared on this earth to save them and who will appear again to take them home with Him forever.
Fight THE Fight! Finish THE Race! Keep THE Faith! Finish strong with an ecstatic burst into heaven!
John Donne wrote what should be the testimony of every Christian who is rehearsing the day of his death. Study this:
“Death, be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so. For those whom thou thinkest thou dost overthrow, they die not. One short sleep passed, and we wake eternally and death shall be no more.”
No more death.
I love what was written about Enoch in the #1 Textbook. He walked with God.
My parents lived a very impactful life as a Hall of Fame coach and a highly accomplished educator wife. Both started from humble beginnings.
Dad was one of four brothers raised by a single, uneducated mom. They were abandoned by an alcoholic father. They fled his abuse in the middle of the night carrying all their belongings in pillow sacks. Their new home was in an abandoned chicken coup.
Mom grew up in humble surroundings as part of six siblings with uneducated parents. She was proud to be a coal miner’s daughter.
Both parents received many awards and professional acclaim. They positively impacted the lives of thousands of students and co-workers. Much could be written as their tombstone testimonies.
However, they chose their own epitaph. The tombstone plaque simply reads, “Gerald and Beatrice Blankenship, parents of Rex, Bill, Joe.”
That is their tombstone testimony. Their pride. Their joy. Their love. Their legacy.
What a blessing! What a humbling challenge!
To be loved unconditionally and endlessly is a tremendous blessing. It is also a stewardship responsibility to make sure that investment is not wasted.
You and I are loved by the God of Glory, Eternal Creator, Living Lord, Heavenly Father, Loving Savior, Supreme Majesty, and Sovereign King of kings.
We are loved first and foremost, loved most and forever. We are loved before and above everything else with a love that is independent, infinite, and immeasurable in its greatness.
We are loved with undeserved, unchanging, and unending goodness by the One who is Glorious in all he is, Perfect in all his ways, Faithful in all he does. Always wise, right, and good. Always with us and always for us.
And yet, He has no tombstone. He just writes his legacy in the heavens.
God of Rex, Bill, Joe, and you.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6).
Dear family and friends, do not worry about me when that time comes in my life.
I will be cutting down the nets!
As the hymnwriter penned,
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
–The Love of God, Frederick Lehman
LOVE FIRST...LOVE MOST 