Some one has well said that you are not ready to live until you are ready to die. While thinking about this I recently visited a cemetery near our church. This grave marker had this inscription written in 1892.
"Remember Friend As You Pass By
As You Are Now So Once Was I,
As I Am Now, So You Must Be,
Prepare For Death And Follow Me"
This is a sobering thought for all of us. We don't know when our time will be up. We need to be ready to die, so that we can live as God has intended us to live. Solomon in Ecclesiastes 9 gives us some good advice about enjoying life now. He makes this pointed statement "For Man Knoweth Not His TIME."
After participating in three funerals in seven days, I thought how do I want to be remembered? What is it that I want people to know about my life? What is it that really should count?
Jeremiah 9:23 - 24 provides some divine guidance. "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord."
I see three uncertainties in life in these verses; wisdom, might, and riches. The worlds approach to significance; the desire to be, do, or have, none of which are certainties.
I see two opportunities in life that have lasting value; the opportunity to understand the Lord and to know Him. Jesus said "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." What an opportunity we have to understand and know the Lord.
Three certainties that we can count on are God's loving kindness, His justice, and righteousness. What are you living for? What do you glory or boast in? CERTAINLY SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!
