Articles
If You Write My Obituary
Way out here, in the remote western town where I live, the thin weekly newspaper is a big deal. And, a big part of the news is the obituaries. I find it interesting, reading the death notices of people I’ll never know. There are some written merely as a matter-of-fact; this one lived and died. Yet, others are written to impress us with how important and wonderful this person was. The obituary stretches on across several columns of the paper. Near the end there is often an oh-by-the-way tidbit; this one belonged to some-such church. And, I think, “What – that’s it? That’s all you can say about their faith? They were on a membership list somewhere?”
If you write my obituary, I hope you’ll not speak of what I did, but of what Christ did in me. Go ahead; tell the world that I was once an absolute mess. It’s true; I was! But, tell them I finally learned to trust God. Before you say I was the son of so-and-so, tell the world I am a child of God. Don’t tell them when and where I was physically born; tell them how I was born into the family of God. Don’t tell them when and where I died; rather assure them that I still live in Christ. Don’t tell them about my college degrees and about how long I worked in some job. Rather, tell them what I tried to do for God. Remind them; it was for God. It’s okay to tell them that I wasn’t very successful in my worldly career; however, in Christ I will conquer worldliness. People will hardly care about who preceded me in death, but please mention those succeeded me in life; that is, those who followed me into God’s family.
However, if you write my obituary, and all you can remember is that I went to some-such church; then please, don’t remind them that I lived at all.
Paul Myers
