Recently, my sister and I got an opportunity to take a stroll in a graveyard. It was actually fun to amble there, reading the epitaphs. We couldn’t spend much time there, because there were other things we had to do. As we read what was written on each epitaph, I tried to get a vague idea of the kind of person that lay there. Wonder if my guesses were right! Some of them, perhaps, loved their family; one, I recollect, was “a very faithful wife”. There was so much mention of all that on those inspiring epitaphs. There is one I vividly remember, which says “His delight was in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditated day and night”. What a verse to be written on an epitaph! After those few minutes I spent there, I so fell in love with that place, that my mother was joking about having me buried there when I die.
Death – a creepy topic for discussion?! “That’s not something to be discussed. Let’s talk about something good”, I’ve heard some of my friends shun. My argument... If it is fine to discuss about career plans, marriage plans and retirement benefits, what is wrong with discussing ‘death’? After all, death is a reality all of us are going to face. The earth might have to bear some of us for 80 or 100 years. Who knows, you or I could live to be just 30 or 40! We can do nothing to evade death.
Talking of epitaphs, death and graveyard, I start wondering what really matters after I am dead and gone. Only an epitaph stands there bearing your name. Also, perhaps, family and friends talking about you for a decade or two. What happens to you?? All the money that you sweated your brow for, the name that you toiled for, the dream house you meticulously planned for, the luxurious car you proudly owned and your body that you cared so much for – none of these are with you. They do not belong to you anymore!
Common sense would tell you that if you had lived a good life, you will end up in heaven, while the bad ones are thrown into hell. In this world that believes in no absolute truth, what is good and what is bad? If you and I were to decide that, heaven and hell would be in chaos. I could call myself ‘good’, but my neighbour would say that I am the worst person she has ever seen! But, when we compare ourselves with God’s standards, we would realise that none of us qualify! That’s why the Bible says “...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. No one deserves to be in heaven, because we are all sinners.
Before you think that’s the end of the story, wait to know the good news. The good news is that sinless Jesus was born in human form and He became a sacrifice for our sins. “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” Jesus willingly died a cruel death and came back alive!
Now, is that of any use, when I die? The answer is: “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Believe in the sacrifice for sin that Jesus has already paid on the cross, and that’s the way to heaven!! If you know where you are going, death is nothing to be scared of.
"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Death – a creepy topic for discussion?! “That’s not something to be discussed. Let’s talk about something good”, I’ve heard some of my friends shun. My argument... If it is fine to discuss about career plans, marriage plans and retirement benefits, what is wrong with discussing ‘death’? After all, death is a reality all of us are going to face. The earth might have to bear some of us for 80 or 100 years. Who knows, you or I could live to be just 30 or 40! We can do nothing to evade death.
Talking of epitaphs, death and graveyard, I start wondering what really matters after I am dead and gone. Only an epitaph stands there bearing your name. Also, perhaps, family and friends talking about you for a decade or two. What happens to you?? All the money that you sweated your brow for, the name that you toiled for, the dream house you meticulously planned for, the luxurious car you proudly owned and your body that you cared so much for – none of these are with you. They do not belong to you anymore!
Common sense would tell you that if you had lived a good life, you will end up in heaven, while the bad ones are thrown into hell. In this world that believes in no absolute truth, what is good and what is bad? If you and I were to decide that, heaven and hell would be in chaos. I could call myself ‘good’, but my neighbour would say that I am the worst person she has ever seen! But, when we compare ourselves with God’s standards, we would realise that none of us qualify! That’s why the Bible says “...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. No one deserves to be in heaven, because we are all sinners.
Before you think that’s the end of the story, wait to know the good news. The good news is that sinless Jesus was born in human form and He became a sacrifice for our sins. “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” Jesus willingly died a cruel death and came back alive!
Now, is that of any use, when I die? The answer is: “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Believe in the sacrifice for sin that Jesus has already paid on the cross, and that’s the way to heaven!! If you know where you are going, death is nothing to be scared of.
"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"
