Reading Your Own Obituary

If you were to read your own obituary today, what do you think people would remember you for?

I read about a man who died and told the truth in his obituary. He confessed, "As it turns out, I am the guy who stole the safe from the Motor View Drive Inn back in June 1971. I could have left that unsaid, but I wanted to get it off my chest."

He also admitted to kicking rocks into the Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone National Park, and to being "banned for life" from Disneyland and Sea World following youthful hijinks.

His wife of 33 years confirmed the events he confessed were true. She added, "He wanted to set a new standard on how obituaries should be written." I appreciate the honesty, but hopefully you and I will be remembered for more than that.

You don’t determine the date of your birth or the date of your death, but you determine what you do between those dates.

The great evangelist D.L. Moody was asked the question, "If you knew the Lord were returning tonight, how would you spend the rest of your day?" Moody replied, "I wouldn’t do anything different than I do every day."

Is that how you live?

We ought to live each year as if it were our last. We are here to redeem the time, not waste it. It has been said that, "men talk of killing time while time quietly kills them."

Though I am not a big fan of making New Year’s resolutions, I do think the new year is a great time to "recalibrate." We need to live our lives with an eternal perspective, because—all things considered—life here on earth comes and goes very quickly. The Bible describes it as a "vapor of smoke" and "a story already told." Then comes the afterlife.

How will you keep an eternal perspective?