… is in the celebration of life everlasting.
Yesterday I attended the memorial service for the mother of the man who was my youth pastor throughout my teenage years. He eventually became my friend and even co-worker for a while. What I knew of his mother was that she was always smiling and she was always excited about something. Thats about it.
But as I listened to stories from people of all walks of life I recalled something a Professor told our class recently. He said one of the greatest blessings of being a pastor is the opportunity to lead funerals, following by stating that death in this life justifies our reason for the way we live our lives as Christ followers.
As I thought about his short statement yesterday, I understood what he meant. Death is one of the final steps in the process of “perfecting our faith” (Hebrews 12:12). As Paul puts it (paraphrase Philippians 3:9-14), we strive to be everything God intends us to be, but we cannot obtain this until we participate in Christ’s death and resurrection.
She challenged us even in death as her son read from a letter she had written just two weeks previous to her final hospital stay. The gist of it, take nothing for granted and take advantage of every opportunity to show the love of Christ. Towards your children, spouse, family, friends and beyond… be Christ in their lives so that in their death, they can find their celebration.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Death, Godliness, Jeremy Wheeler, Paul
what an observation Jeremy… quite paradoxical, yet profoundly true. What a motivation and encouragement for those who bring this good news.
Jeremy – great thoughts man. As Jackie Robinson once said “A life is not important except the impact it has on other lives”. We are here for a purpose and a mission to impact everyone we meet. May we be Christ in all we say and do. As my mom used to say “we maybe the only Jesus they will ever see”.