SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: We live, die only once! – Herald-Banner

Death is a subject I dont like to linger on I suppose few do, unless by necessity. However, I believe it is good to consider the nature of life and death while we have breath in our lungs.

My own forced reckoning came shortly after I graduated high school 17 years ago, when four of my fellow graduates, and friends, died in quick succession.

Those deaths bombarded me. Youth and naivete offered no protection.

When sorrows come, Shakespeare wrote, they come not single spies but in battalions. Battered, I oscillated between two errors in thinking about death.

My first error was to run from the thought, to put anything else in my mind other than the truth that I would one day die.

There is a saying, popular as recently as a few years ago. You Only Live Once, more commonly known as YOLO. One would normally hear it exclaimed by someone before or in the middle of doing something dangerously risky.

It was used as a defense when told by others that what they are doing is unsafe, or that their actions could have severe consequences on their bodies, as well as the well-being of friends and family, later in life.

The idea is simple: since we live only once, why not live in the moment? That kind of thinking feeds nicely into any lack of commitment to anything that would hinder someone from being completely spontaneous, such as marriage, careers, savings accounts and 401ks, etc.

Earlier generations had another saying, more sophisticated,but materially the same, carpe diem: seize the day.

These statements reveal a sense of hopelessness, not simply because they treat death as cavalier, shunning duty and embracing immediate gratification, but also (and more importantly I believe) because those who are constantly in search of the next best thing to entertain them, to make them happy, will inevitably be unfulfilled with what they found and will invariably go in search of the next until one day there is no next.

Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Right?

Wrong. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart (Ecclesiastes 7:2).

Its better to linger at funerals than at bars because funerals remind us that our lives have immense value: they should be cherished, not thrown away needlessly in reckless living.

My second error came as an overcorrection of the first. I thought about death far too often, namely, in wanting to die on my terms, or to die for a good and righteous cause either fighting in a just war against evil or on a mission field far away, doing something bold. If death is inevitable, then I should meet it on my own terms.

While not obvious at first, this idea spurs another discussion also prevalent in our age. Look closely, and youll recognize it in discussions related to euthanasia. Greek for good death, euthanasia is all about one thing: dying in a way one would prefer at least, under the circumstances.

Increasingly popular in the United States, euthanasia is enjoying legal protection under the guise of so-called dying with dignity laws.

Such an intense focus on when we die, controlling the circumstances of our death, and making death easier, detracts from our thinking of the deeper matters of death, especially on the matter of life after death.

Roman citizens were concerned with similar thoughts on death. In 410 A.D., Alaric the Visigoth sacked Rome. Roman citizens, hearing the brutality with which the Visigoths dispatched their victims, did not want to die in such ways.

Augustine reminded his readers in his masterpiece, City of God, that death is the same, no matter if it is brought about after a long life of peace, or in wartime.

His words are a reminder today.

They [] who are destined to die, need not be careful to inquire what death they are to die, but into what place death will usher them.

Since death is inevitable, our thoughts should not be so concerned with the way we will die, rather, we should direct our thoughts and actions to the life hereafter, and how our lives will echo after we are gone.

Those overly concerned with the way they will die neglect to cast the proper attention due to the eternal consequence of the lives they live.

Scripture is replete with people who rejoice even amidst suffering and heartache. We do this because we follow Christ, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2). Knowing where death leads reframes our thinking and discussions on our mortality.

Death, then, remains serious as it should be; and we can still have joy in this life, knowing we will one day die. Because as Christians, we know where death will usher us into.

I dont remember why, but the only funeral of the four I attended was my friend J.J.s.

His death, we all thought, was the most tragic: he left a wife, a young child, and a career to support them. Though tragic in the worlds eyes, the pastor who delivered the eulogy would not let us remember him that way. A tragedy becomes one by how it ends. If this life is all there is, then J.J.s death was tragic.

But we know that all things, including death itself, were conquered in Christ, who died and rose again. J.J. was a man whose actions moved in concert with his public profession of faith. Therefore his death, though still heart-breaking for us, ushered him into the very presence of God, free from all sin and suffering.

And that is no tragedy.

Joseph Hamrick is a semi-professional writer and sometimes thinker. He lives in Commerce and serves as a deacon at Commerce Community Church C3).

He can be reached atjhamrick777@gmail.com

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SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: We live, die only once! - Herald-Banner