Death

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/16/living-well

Stephen Covey taught in one of his 7 habits of successful people is to begin with the end in mind. So we imagine ourselves at our funeral, what people will say as our eulogy, what will be written on our tombstone, how will our loved ones take our death. From the end that we like to see, we live our lives such that we will achieve that end one day. It’s a good way to psyche ourselves to live for God because we also know that we do not determine when will our end be. We could leave earlier than as imagined.

Death is the destiny of everyone, the living should take this to heart (Ecclesiastes 7:2). This basically means we will all die so take heed of that. As our days are limited, we need to use whatever time we have to live responsibly for God. To achieve God’s plans and purposes for us. To do what God wants us to do. To be the best that we can be in God, to realise our fullest potential in God.

The key takeaway today is that we know that we will all die one day (our destiny) but we do not know at all when (in God’s hands). Thus, the sooner we discover our other destiny, the better. What’s our destiny in God? What’s the thing God wants for our lives? Are we living that out already?

I think this simply means that if we are not able to achieve God’s plans for us at where we are, we should pray and ask God where we should go. If our job currently prevents us from achieving God’s purposes for us, we need to consider how to adapt more or find another job. If we need to further equip ourselves to achieve our destiny in God, take those steps quickly. In real life, there are lots of considerations as the living needs to live too and that means dealing with issues of life and having the means to live. Yet if we take note of death that will come for which we do not know when, we need to take account of our lives constantly. As we begin with the end in mind, we need to live now that life in God that we always wanted. Let’s start the journey now and delay no more.

In conclusion, death is not the end. For believers it is the start to our eternal life. We don’t know for sure what will eternal life be, how it works in that dimension, in that world. But we do know that we should store up riches in heaven because that’s our ultimate home. Earthly riches are good for earthly living but eternal wealth will last us for eternity. What’s the balance in our EPF account in heaven? The storing up of riches in heaven is done while we are on earth, while we are still on earth. Take note of that. Secondly, have we achieved what God has set out for us to do? Death is our destiny, but what’s our destiny in God while we are still in the land of the living?