At your funeral, how do you want people to remember you? What do you want them to say? How do you want them to feel? I know it may sound like a morbid question but I think if we really want to live our life to the fullest, with the greatest positive impact on others these are the questions we need to ask. They are goals to strive towards.
How would you feel if nobody even showed up to your funeral? If your life had such little positive effect on others that they didn't even care to hold a service let alone have anything positive to say about you? What if your passing was looked at more as a blessing to their lives then a time for sorrow? I for one would be greatly disappointed.
Out of our whole reading today there is one part that has really struck me and caused me to pause and think:
After all this, the LORD afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels. In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great pain. His people made no fire in his honor, as they had for his fathers. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one's regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. 2 Chronicles 21:18-20
Jehoram was a King and yet there was no honor for him in his death. Nobody cared and nobody was disappointed. They weren't even willing to burry him in the Tomb of the Kings. There was more compassion for Jezebel when she died. Jehu commanded that she be buried properly because she was a King's daughter, a severely wicked daughter, but a princess none the less (2 Kings 9:34).
Jehoram didn't live for God. In the 40 years he spent on this Earth his life was guided by wickedness and wicked people and he lead a whole nation astray. In his death not even those who had followed him into his wicked ways paused with respect or care. His life had been a waste of potential and ended in pain and solitude. I find this sobering and very sad.
So, how do I want to live my life so that when I draw my last breath those who shared in my life, witnessed my life, and were impacted by my life will feel it? How do I live my life to the fullest now so that in my death God is glorified and His kingdom was built, not torn apart? How do I live the life God has set before me?
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Colossians 4:5
Get rid of the meaningless things, hurts, sins, struggles that hinder you from living a God filled life. Persevere even when life begins to feel overwhelming. Christ is your portion and strength. Make the most of every moment, every encounter you have. Build relationships, mend relationships. Be a peace maker. Shower others with unconditional love, forgiveness and grace not because they are deserving but because you know what it is like to receive such gifts from your heavenly Father. Help those in need before they ask. Give of your whole self to anyone who is in need or asks. This is the race that has been marked out for you, to be the hands and feet of Christ to those who are in a dark and sinful world.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
1 Corinthians 12:7
1 Corinthians 12:7
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. Corinthians 4:6, 10-11
When you live your life wholeheartedly for the Lord you will not have to worry about what is said upon your death because you can be assured that the most important words one could hear will be said of you by the only one who matters:
'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' Matthew 25:23
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