Greetings my Brothers and Sisters in Christ I pray all is well and peace is with you.
As many of you are aware I have attended several funerals in the past couple years and the past two have really caused me to do some deep reflecting on the scripture:
A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.
Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 NIV
I used to wonder what Solomon was saying here. But after my most recent encounters with the sting of death,I Believe I understand. Funerals are sobering like a splash of ice cold water to a groggy face. Funerals wake you up and make us face a destiny that comes for us all. They make us face tough questions such as is my life to busy? Do my loved ones know how much I love them? Do I have my house in order? Is that grudge really worth holding on to? Now these are just some of the questions we may ask ourselves but I think the biggest one I came up with between my last two encounters with the sting of death is this
What will people my wife my children friends and family say about me when my time comes?
I got the answer I want for myself from a graduation ceremony (As Pastor Carl would have put it) of a believer the grandfather of my best friend. Even though we were all sad and grieving over the loss of the wonderful man of God the was in the midst of the tears joy, laughter and peace as stories were shared. And as his children were sharing there testimony of their father 2 things really stuck out to me. They all said that he loved God and that he ran his race well. They described there father as a God fearing man who prayed every morning in his chair for his family. He was a man of peace of joy of wisdom of patience of kindness of gentleness.
It was a wonderful experience for as much as it was a testimony of their Father it was also a testimony of the grace of God. Everyone left with the peace and the hope of seeing this wonderful man because his life was a testimony of his love for Jesus Christ.
I was also given an example of what I don't want my life to be I attended a funeral it did not feel like a graduation ceremony it felt like a funeral the air was filled with bitterness unforgiveness anger and the like. The stories of this individual painted the picture of someone who loved life not someone who loved Christ and when it ended there was no feeling of hope or peace only grief.
Brothers and sisters I share these examples to illustrate the way we live our life has an impact on the ones we live behind we have a choice to make we can either run our race well and our lives be a testimony of how wonderful Christ is leaving our loved ones with peace and hope. Or we can love this life and lose it leaving our loved ones with questions anxiety and grief.
So my brothers and sisters what choice will we make will our last moment on this earth be a graduation ceremony? Or a funeral a life with Christ or without?
Pastor Dakota Swinton