Storms-a-coming

Anticipation. The word can point to good or bad.

Earlier today the weather radar was showing a cold front moving across the southeast. As the day has progressed, so has the storm—it's now pretty close!

This is how life goes: there are all kinds of important dates and events that seem so far away, but then they finally arrive … and we may feel surprised, as if we had no real idea it was coming.

The biggest appointment of all is the day we pass from this temporal stage of life and slip into eternity. The Scriptures teach us, that "just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him" (Hebrews 9:27-28).

There will be a day of reckoning for everyone. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others" (2 Corinthians 5:10-11).

"For it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.' So then each of us will give an account of himself to God" (Romans 14:11-12).

Honestly, what causes fear in my own self-examination is what Jesus taught in Matthew 25:31-46. His commendation and condemnation of the sheep and goats, respectively, was not about things that we sometimes concern ourselves with, but with the simple and yet challenging activity of helping others. In this context of Matthew 25:31-46 it's not about teaching, but about practice.

There is so much to do—"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Galatians 6:9-10). We may prefer the emphasis of the last phrase, but God's reality is that we are to do good to everyone. And He is the best example of all: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

"But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:17-18).

Two Funerals In Two Days

It's the way it all happened. One passed away on a Thursday morning, the other on the following Monday morning. But their funeral services were scheduled back-to-back. Two funerals in two days.

It's atypical wisdom suggesting that going to a funeral is a good thing—despite the prefix of the word "funeral" is "fun" (and it's really not a prefix at all).

A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one's birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of laughter. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools (Ecclesiastes 7:1-5 MKJV).

Life is short. The two who recently passed away and whose funerals were so close together were 85 and 92, respectively. If I knew today that I would live to be 85, that would give me 39 years from this point on. I might want more. Isn't it funny that older people often say things like: "Time flies!"

Hardly anyone needs to have this fact of life's brevity pointed out, but sometimes the reminder is very helpful. And so we should strive to remember this and live by being helpful to others, kind, merciful, loving, and compassionate.

It's easy enough to accept that everyone is going to die, but it's a mighty big step in understanding to get to the point that "I" am going to die. It's going to happen—as Bertrand Russell put it, "There's an amazing statistic among men: one out of every one dies." It really doesn't take someone as SMRT (think Homer Simpson) as Russell to inform us of this truth.

Funerals remind me of the general statement: "Live in such a way that, when you die, and the preacher preaches nice things about you, no one's going to wonder if it was really you."

And in this we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him, that if our heart accuses us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not accuse us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment. And he who keeps His commandment dwells in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He gave to us. (1 John 3:19-24 MKJV)