How Will the Book of YOUR Life Read?

“The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying.” – John Flavel

Life is like a book, a novel if you will. The dates of our birth and our death are the front and back covers, and all the days of our life are the pages.

What kind of story do your pages tell? Are they filled with acts of selfishness and pride as you try to accumulate as much wealth, power, and status as possible? Or do they tell a story of service to God and sacrifice on behalf of others?

How about the inevitable times of trial, suffering, and pain? Does your book blame (and even curse) God for your lot in life or does it reveal a faith so deep that it not only survives during those periods in life’s valley, but also thrives there?

Finally, what will your book say about the way you faced death? Will you lament your passing as you look back on a life wasted and misspent? Will your dying words be ones of regret? Or will you rest peacefully in the assurance that your sins are forgiven and that your last breath on earth will be immediately followed by your first breath in Glory?

Regardless of how you answered those questions, the good news is that your novel is still being written. That means that there is still time to edit its content or – as in the case of Saul who became Paul – for a complete rewrite.

Better to utter words on your deathbed similar to those of blues singer Bessie Smith and other believers than the laments of Queen Elizabeth I, actress Joan Crawford, Confucius, or Hadrian.

“I’m going, but I’m going in the name of the Lord.” – Bessie Smith

“God be thanked.” – Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage

“I see my God. He calls to me.” – Anthony of Padua, Franciscan friar

“For the name of Jesus and the protection of the church I am ready to embrace death.” – Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury

“All my possessions for a moment of time!” – Queen Elizabeth I

“Expletive… don’t you dare ask God to help me.” – Joan Crawford

“Heaven has turned against me.” – Confucius

“O my poor soul, whither art thou going?” – Emperor Hadrian

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.” Psalm 116:15 (BSB)

"It is finished... Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit." John 19:30; Luke 23:46 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President