It seems mighty strange to me. A man, perhaps even a professing Christian, can spend his life in the pursuit of things that bring him pleasure, refuse to contribute to the needs of others, be unfaithful to the Lord’s church, wreck his marriage, love money, cheat others, and strive for popularity, then die and be called a “good”, “great”, or “wonderful” person. Really? Who are we kidding?
Point is–we shouldn’t live in such a way that people would have to lie in order to say something nice about us at our funeral. Rather we should invest our lives in things of eternal value rather than things that will perish. We should desire to please God rather than ourselves or others. And it will be evident when we do– no one will be wondering about what we value. Jim Elliot, martyred missionary to the Aucas in Ecuador, wrote in the flyleaf of his Bible, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” He’s talking about giving his life for Christ.
Adrian Rogers once said, “I’ll tell you, in these days the most dangerous thing you can do is to play it safe. You are safer out on the waves with Jesus Christ than you are in the boat without Him. These are desperate days, and we need to live like it. Don’t just sit there and let life pass you by! You’re going to die anyway. You can’t save your life. You’re not going to get out of it alive. And so you might as well invest it in something important.”
We need the attitude of William Carey who said, “I’m not afraid of failure. I’m afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter”. That’s good advice. Being a success in something that is unimportant doesn’t make you a success in life. Those who spend their lives majoring on minors are failures–regardless of what they accomplish, or how wealthy or popular they are. If the end result of my life doesn’t glorify God I have missed my purpose and failed miserably in life.
They can say all manner of nice things about you, erect a marble statue on your grave, and even establish a memorial to keep your name in the lime light for a while, but the truth is — you wasted your life. It is only by living in God’s grace and for God’s glory that it can truly be said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant“(Matt.25:21). Now that’s a life worth living! –HDS
