Friday, July 24th 2009
1 Chronicles 7:20-22
"The sons of Ephraim were Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eladah his son, Tahath his son,21 Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead. The men of Gath who were born in that land killed them because they came down to take away their cattle.22 Then Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him."
NKJV
Live the way you want to be remembered.
What a legacy to leave behind. Ephraim's sons were killed stealing cattle. I remember seeing a series of commercials on television for Tombstone brand frozen pizzas. The commercial that I remember most is a gangster scene. The commercial opens at the shipyards on a foggy night. A well-dressed man is in cement shoes, about to be thrown into the river. A gangster says to the man, "So, Tony, it's nothing personal. Before we get started, what do you want on your tombstone?" Tony smiles and then replies, "Pepperoni and sausage." Obviously, Tony was distracted from the seriousness of the situation. It was life or death, and he is thinking about pizza. It is funny because it is absurd, yet so many of us go about life ignoring the obvious fact that someday we are going to die. We may have made some poor choices in life, but the one we don't want to get wrong is whether we have accepted Jesus. I have done some difficult funerals. I have done some funerals where we just did not know if the person was saved or not. Why is that? Shouldn't someone have known? Their lives did not demonstrate their salvation, so questions lingered.
What do you want people to say at your funeral? Do you want them to feel like they have to lie? Do you want them to skirt around the obvious? Or... do you want to leave a legacy that inspires people to follow Jesus? Should the Lord tarry, we will each have a funeral. Will those you leave behind be saying, "See you later" or will they be saying "Goodbye?"
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for loving me. It is through Your Son, Jesus that I am an adopted child of God, and I am so grateful. Lord, I want to live out my life as an inspiration to others. May my life demonstrate the love and Truth of Your Word. Empower me Lord, to make the most of the time You have given me. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Living to tell what He died to say,
Pastor David McGee
Senior Pastor
Calvary Chapel of the Triad
reachthetriad.com
twitter.com/ccot
