Key Verse:
"Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over
without knowing it."
Luke 11:44
Within most
of us is a desire for significance. We want to leave a mark on the world as a
sign that we indeed were here, that we existed. We do not wish to be forgotten.
Most of us also do not achieve that goal. Our lives are reduced to the dash on
our grave markers between our birth and death dates. Only our close friends and
loved ones are able to fill in parts of the story behind the dash.
King Solomon
put it this way. "So I reflect on all this and conclude that the righteous
and the wise and what they do are in God's hands: but no man knows whether love
or hate awaits him. All share a common destiny, the righteous and the wicked,
the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and
those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with
those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. This is the
evil in everything that happens under the sun: the same destiny overtakes all.
The hearts of men, moreover are full of evil and there is madness in their
hearts while they live, and afterwards they join the dead. Anyone who is among
the living has hope. Even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! For the
living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further
reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and
their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in
anything that happens under the sun." (Ecclesiastes
9:1-6)
Wow! I
suppose that sounds depressing, doesn't it? Well, consider this, how would we
live if we remembered this. In truth, we have already pointed out yesterday
that the leadership is dead apart from Christ, but in their physical lives,
rather than seeing themselves as equals with their fellow Jews, they were bent
on proving themselves to be better and more worthy than the poor, the less
educated and less fortunate. They thought they deserved better. They forgot
that their beginning and end, apart from Christ, was no different than anyone
else.
Do we
remember the names of most of these leaders who gave Jesus such a hard time in
His ministry? No. They have faded into oblivion, like unmarked graves that
people walk over without knowing. That is the way of man. Only Christ can make
us come alive, give us purpose, make us significant for His glory. Without Him,
we too will decay into oblivion. Eventually, the story of our dash between our
dates will be lost as our loved ones follow us into oblivion physically, but if
we can remember, "Only one life, twill soon be passed, only what's done
for Christ will last." In Him, we can be remembered forever because we
live on, In Him, for eternity.
"The
length of our days is seventy years, or eighty, if we have the strength; yet
their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm
90:10 - 12) May we always remember what we are apart from Him and who we
can be because of Him.
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