I read obituaries. This is something I have been doing for about 15 years. When I was young, I didn't think much about death or dying. I lived as if eternity didn't matter. I lived without thinking about what is after Death. I rarely considered the idea of eternal Judgement. I thought that what mattered most was life - not what came after life. At some point, I started to consider my eternal fate. I wondered, "What if I die and there is a Heaven and Hell?"
What do you believe? Is there a Heaven and Hell? What will happen when you die? Will you just forever be over with? Or will you close your eyes in this life to wake up to the next stage? What is that next stage? What do you believe and why? How sure are you?
Death became more "real" to me when people I knew began to die. I wondered where they were. I would think about how they had lived their lives and what they had lived for. And then I realized that one day, my obituary is the one people would be reading. That is when I started paying attention to death notices. I was curious about how strangers - the famous and the non-famous - had died. How old were they when they died? What had caused them to die? And then, as I read more obituaries, I realized that no matter how famous, infamous, celebrated or ordinary someone was, Death was their ending. We, the living, after we finished grieving, we went on living.
When Michael Jackson died, I remembered how "larger than life" he'd always seemed. From the time I was a tweeny-bopper until the day Jackson died, he was the biggest celebrity. I'd lived through the Jackson 5 cartoons and tours and the brief breakout careers of some of the guys. I'd lived through LaToya trying to breakout, Janet actually breaking out and making it big. I'd watched the show where Michael moonwalked right into megastardom to eventually become known as "The King of Pop". And when he died, he was just dead. People cried and raved and mourned hard until they went on with their own lives. Micheal Jackson became a memory. He was someone who had lived so large and then he was just dead. Dead like someone who'd never been known for anything but living a regular life. Dead like someone who'd been so unknown their body had gone unclaimed. Dead is dead is dead is dead. All that fame and talent and clamor of his fans didn't change the fact that he was dead.
So. How does any of a person's life here among the living matter to their after-life existence? Is Michael Jackson famous where he now exists? Does he matter any more than anyone else where he now exists? I don't think so. I think he - like we all will - is living his eternal life however he is living his eternal life. It will be the same for you and for me and for the person who dies unknown and unmourned.
And so when I see people who give away everything to be famous or known or celebrated or rich or envied, I think about the dead. I think about the existence after this one.
So, yeah, I think that we all need a reminder of how close death is to us. It doesn't matter how old or young you are, you can be taking your last breath at this moment.
There are times when I get bogged down in regret or get high on pride. That's when I need a reminder. There are some people who are so busy living that they forget they will, one day, die. That's when they need a reminder.
Your choices matter. Your actions matter. One day, you will cease to exist in a living body.
How important is money? Fame? Is anything worth your soul?
You are dying. I am dying. That is a fact.
Being beautiful won't keep Death away. Being thin or rich or powerful - none of that can defeat Death.
There is Life, there is Death, and there are Consequences. It all matters.
Some people are banking on this life. They are after everything they can gain here - power, wealth, beauty, fame, etc. They are selling eternity for the now. And there is nothing wrong with having power, wealth, beauty, fame or etc. The error is in choosing it over eternity.
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. (2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV)
When you need to be reminded of life and death and eternal existence, go read some "notable" obituaries. Read them and think about what matters here in the now and what will matter there in the next - whatever that "next" is.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21 ESV)
Think about the next life as you live this one. It matters.
Peace
--Free
