I just came from the memorial service of one of my wife's cousins. I'll call him Mike. He died from cancer at the age of 59. He was a smoker for most of his life, and he had his first bout with lung cancer about 18 years ago. With treatment he was able to bring the cancer under control for quite a while, until sometime last spring suddenly it was back again, and apparently much more virulent than before. So Mike finally lost his battle with the dreaded disease.
Mike wanted cremation, so there was to be no regular funeral, and indeed I was a little surprised to find that when we arrived at the funeral parlor, the cremation had not yet taken place and he was laid out in a casket just as at a normal wake. Instead of a funeral later on, the family was having a "celebration of life" service to allow his friends and family to eulogize him in any way they saw fit to do. And several people did come forward to tell of all of the wonderful things they remembered about Mike.
Several friends that Mike had known in this life came up and told how he was a great friend, and one even told of how when he went to visit him in the hospital, Mike had been the one to comfort him by telling him to make every moment count and live life to it's fullest, and so on.
Both of Mikes sons came up and spoke glowingly about how their father was such a great dad and a terrific provider. About how he would give you the shirt off of his back and all of the wonderful euphemisms that go along with it. Now don't get me wrong. I'm glad that he was such a wonderful father. God knows that we could use more men who would be half of the father that Mike was to his children. In a secular sense.
In the spiritual sense, Mike apparently couldn't have been a worse father. As far as I could tell, he didn't do anything to teach his sons and daughters of the need to give place to the one who died for their sins. I listened carefully to all of the wonderful things said about Mike during the eulogies, but not one word was mentioned about any love for Christ. Not one word was mentioned about the things of God. Not one word was mentioned about a passion for the church, or for a love of studying God's word. Nothing was mentioned about how Mikes death might be the catalist for someone in attendance to give their life to Jesus. ( I think funerals are one of the best places to proclaim the gospel because everyone in attendance is face to face with their own mortality.) It would be so easy to say, "Just look at him and realize that as he is, you will be someday. Let me introduce you to someone who can give you eternal life."
Mikes great passion in life, was not the spreading of the word, or any thing to do with things eternal. It was golf. So Mike's ashes will be spread over a golf course because that is what he wanted. What will be said of him in the years to come will be that he really loved golf, and he was cremated in his golf shirt. It will be said of him that he was a good father, son and friend. But I seriously doubt that anyone will say of Mike that he was a man of God. Somehow the topic just never came to the forefront when people had the chance to bring it up. Indeed there was not even a minister or priest present at the wake to assist in the ceremony. All of these things combine to speak loudly of what Mikes spiritual condition was. Now I am a firm beleiver in deathbed repentance. Only God himself knows exactly what Mike's spiritual disposition was when he died.
I want it to be said of me when I die that I was a man who feared God. I want it to be said of me that I was a man who wanted to see the gospel proclaimed in all of the world. I want it to be said of me that I was a man who prayed fervently, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven." I want it to be said of me that I lived my life to the glory of God. What will it matter when we say that we could shoot a 68 on the golf course, and had our ashes spread on one when we stand before the judgment seat of God?
I had a conversation last night with my good friend Jim, and we were discussing just such things. He has a penchant for building models, and has many of them that have never been assembled. He put the question to me about the value of spending time doing that sort of thing when there are so many souls yet to be won to Christ, and how that time would even be much better spent studying God's word. I agree whole heartedly. May everything I say and do be done to the glory of God.
