Make Life Count

Yesterday our family headed off to Singing Hills for a service for Aunt Lynn, who recently passed into eternal rest.  It was well-attended, and all enjoyed the celebration of her life.  After the service, I surveyed a number of grave markers in the cemetery.  The bronze markers were engraved plates on granite slabs, spread out evenly in the wind-swept grass field.  There are now six members of my family on my dad's side laid to rest in that field.  I walked slowly, reading the names of other people I had never met.  Every name was accompanied by dates like blank front and back book covers, and I felt like I was missing the body of each novel.  A name and a date cannot define a life.  It is what a person does that counts.

All those grave markers indicated people who will never "do" anything on earth again.  Their time for living a life worth remembering on earth has passed.  Psalm 103:13-16 "As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. [14] For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. [15] As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. [16] For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more."  The word translated into "pity" is from the Hebrew word "racham" which is defined in the Strong's concordance as, "to fondle; by implication to love, especially to have compassion (on, upon), love, (find, have, obtain, shew) mercy."  God knows we only have a short time on earth, and it is good for us to realize this as well.

An amazing thing about Jesus is though He died about 2,000 years ago, His grave is unoccupied - not due to decomposition, but resurrection!  He is alive and supreme in heaven and earth!  His life is open for all to admire in the Bible, and He is worthy of all worship and glory.  For those who are born again through repentance and faith in Christ, we have assurance of everlasting life after death on earth.  Since Christ has given us life, it is imperative we live every day as if our last.  Wouldn't this ensure a life worth being remembered as a priceless treasure?  It is Christ's love which distinguishes from all the rest.  And it is love through His followers which should bring glory and honor to Him.

We have one life to live.  Life is a gift from God.  Determine to make it count for God's glory.  Though the memory of man fades like a flower, God will never forget His children.  Neither life or death shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus!  Praise God for that.