Checking the Obituaries
We’ve all heard the jokes and comments – maybe even made a few of them ourselves. “The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is to check the obituaries. As long as I’m not listed, I know it’s going to be a good day,” or, “Any day above ground is a good one,” or some other, similar comment which is often heard to emanate from the lips of a Christian. But is such really the case? Do we as Christians truly believe that a day spent within the reach of sin, evil, sickness, death, and the devil, is ultimately better than one spent with and amongst the saints in paradise (Lk. 16:22-25); or even face to face with, and around the throne of the God who promised to wipe away every tear from our eyes in a place where death, sorrow, pain and crying have ceased to exist (Revelation 21:4)? The apostle Paul certainly didn’t think so (Philippians 1:21-23).
Where do you want to spend eternity?
You see, the fact is that none of us ever know exactly when that final day is going to arrive in which we won’t wake up to experience another. We never know when the doctor is going to deliver the devastating news that, “There’s nothing we can do,” or, when some totally unexpected and instantaneous death stroke may suddenly strike us during some earthly accident we never saw coming. And so, what each new day actually is, is another God-given and grace-laden chance to better prepare for our last day here, and the inescapable meeting with the Lord God almighty which we all – young and old, rich and poor, healthy and sick – will eventually, inevitably, and individually then be forced to face. What each new day is, is a divine gift and loving investment in you and your eternity, by the grace and mercy of the Lord God almighty. It is yet another much-needed (and hopefully enough appreciated) opportunity for each of us who is blessed enough to receive one, to use it wisely by getting to know the Lord and His word better; to draw ever closer to and become ever more like Him; and to serve Him and His cause even more deeply and sacrificially than we did the day before.
Conversely, it is a complete and total waste of God’s incredible investment of providing us with another day to thus prepare for the time when we won’t be given another one here, to spend it totally in pursuit of those worldly things which will mean absolutely nothing to us when our final day does arrive. Someone once said something akin to: “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow may never be. Today is a gift. That’s why they call it ‘the present.’” If and whenever, you may be blessed enough by God, to be given the gift of another day from now on, don’t waste it – ever (Hebrews 3:1-4:16)! It just possibly might be the last one you ever receive…