Thinking About Death

Early in the morning of November 18, in the midst of the joy and celebration which characterizes the building of the annual bonfire at Texas A & M University, the center pole of the ""stack"" suddenly cracked, and the resulting collapse of the logs brought with it the deaths of twelve young people. No one went to work on the bonfire that night thinking they would not see the next sunrise. No one working with those who were killed considered that by the time the football game was played, their friends would be memorialized in death.

The fact is, we rarely consider death until it strikes. It is something, in fact, we prefer not to think about.

""It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart"" (Eccl. 7:2).

The wise man said it was important to consider death, the end of every man. When we spend time in meditation about our own mortality, we can draw closer to God. There are important lessons to learn when we consider death, and we ignore them to our own folly.

All will die. When Solomon calls death ""the end of every man"" he simply means we will all go that way someday. The Hebrew writer said, "". . . it is appointed for men to die once"" (Heb. 9:27). It is important to consider any event which so universally affects all people. Barring the return of our Lord and Savior, none of us will escape death (see 1 Cor. 15:51-52). We are mortal, and as such, we have limited time and opportunity here on earth. What we do with that time is extremely important (Eph. 5:15-16). What makes it so is the second lesson of death.

All will be judged. The full impact of the statement in Hebrews is what follows: "". . . it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judment"" (Heb. 9:27). After death, we face the judgment of God, and that judgment is based on our lives here. By considering death, we look squarely at the limited time of our lives, realizing that what is truly important is whether or not we lived our lives for God or for self. One who is intent on living for God will be a careful student of His word (see Jn. 12:48). He will also seek desperately to avoid sin (Heb. 10:26-31). The judgment of God will determine where one spends eternity.

All will go to heaven or to hell for eternity. There are many who have ceased to believe in ""a God who would condemn people to hell."" However, it is Jesus Himself who proclaims that some, because of the way their lives are judged, will be told, ""Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels"" (Matt. 25:41). Even some who consider themselves religious will suffer this fate (Matt. 7:21-23). On the other hand, many sinners will be saved in judgment, because they call on the name of the Lord (see Acts 2:38-41; Acts 22:16). There are only two destinations after death and judgment, and when we see death around us, it should stop and make us consider our own eternal destiny.

A story is told of the funeral of a godly woman. As the mourners looked at her casket, they noticed in her hands a fork! The puzzled looks cued the preacher that the woman had been right. She had explained to him her desire to buried with a fork in her hand. It seems that all her life, whenever there had been a big family dinner, as the dirty plates were collected, someone always said, ""Keep your fork for dessert."" After a while, it became second nature for her to keep her fork, because she knew something better (dessert) was coming. She told the preacher, ""When people ask about the fork, tell them, 'She's keeping her fork for something better.'""

When we view death, and when we consider its consequences of judgment and eternal destiny, we should remember the beauty and joy that awaits those who are children of God. In this way, death, as troubling as it may be, will help to draw us closer to our God.

Rusty Miller is a deacon at the Westside church, and the editor of Abundant Life.