Not long ago I visited a funeral home and was stunned to see the way they “advertised” memorial services. It’s a different day now, a different era… we live in a highly secular world that considers death an unmentionable. This means that funerals aren’t funerals anymore; they’re now portrayed as “celebrations of life” with special themes: if the deceased enjoyed fishing, then funeral directors offer a display of rods, reels, nets and other fishing doo-dads to decorate the casket. If the dead person liked gardening, then up in front it’ll be watering cans, bags of seed, hoes and rakes, and sunflowers, with a floppy straw hat cocked sideways on the coffin. There were no hymns, but songs… favorite modern melodies to lull you into actually believing that this particular funeral is a good thing. It’s a celebration.
Now I can appreciate what they’re trying to do. But we are kidding ourselves when we romanticize death as the beautiful climax of a life well lived. It is an enemy. It is especially an enemy to the unbeliever, because for them, death is a threshold to hell (and that’s nothing to celebrate)! Look, the fact is, that if a person does not know Jesus Christ, the only taste of heaven he’ll ever have will be those few good things experienced on earth – and that’s it. In the same way, if a person does know Jesus, his only taste of hell will be the painful things he suffered on earth – and that’s it. The rest is all joy. All happiness, supreme and ever-increasing gladness where all sin and all sadness will be erased… all that is evil in this fallen world will be removed… all that is good will be preserved and intensified. We will be changed so that we are capable of more happiness than we could possibly conceive in this life. That’s something to celebrate!
But not for those who die apart from Christ. I couldn’t help but think of that when I saw all those modern caskets in that funeral parlor. Jesus spoke of hell more than anybody, and he made plain that rejecting his offer of eternal life would result not in non-life, but the misery of God's wrath (John 3:36).
Oh, if only we could see the unspeakable horror of treating God with indifference or contempt in this life. Unbelievers have only this earthly life in which to hear the Gospel and respond to Christ's invitation. Today, will you be encountering someone who doesn’t believe in Christ? Friend, their life’s end will be no celebration if they pass out of this world without the covering of Christ. Whether it’s your neighbor, a relative you’ll see today, whoever, let this be a nudge… share with them your testimony and bring them one step closer to enjoying a real celebration of life – knowing Jesus, the Prince of Life.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
www.joniandfriends.org
© Joni and Friends