‘They live as if they will never die, and they die as if they had never lived…’

 On Saturday, May 24, I had a chance to attend the funeral service of an old neighbour in Mumbai. “When we live we never realize that we’re going to die. We realize about the reality of death only at the end stage,” the priest said, quoting the words of my late neighbour who was suffering from cancer.

  Funeral service is always an eye-opener. Attending a funeral service is something every person must do, at least once in a while. It reminds you of what is awaiting you. 

 When you stand in the cemetery, looking at the coffin being lowered into the grave, the stark reality of nothingness or a vacuum engulfs you. All your pretension, affectation and snobbery will also be buried with it. 

 This is not to scare you to death. Life is beautiful and it’s God’s plan and creation. But death is something that nobody can escape from. Death is also something that people generally avoid talking about among themselves. If you have born into this world, you have to die one day. It’s physical death; your spirit never dies. You will get a spiritual body after death. The Holy Bible clearly says that.
  We need to remember the words in Ecclesiastes 12:1-8. We must remember and follow the Lord when we are young. Don't wait for the last stage of our life.

   I read this story from internet. One person dreamt that he had an interview with God.

  “What surprises you most about mankind?” he asked God.

 God replied, “They lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health. They live as if they will never die, and they die as if they had never lived…”

  This is true in most of our cases. We live in luxury, ignore the poor and forget the Ten Commandments. We go around getting drunk day after day and break all the commandments. We forget the fact that we have to leave everything here. We forget that we all have to stand before Him on the judgment day. No, your fate is actually decided at the time of death. You chose your choice – between hell and heaven – at the time of your death.

(Please read the article on near-death experience by clicking on the link: http://www.christianmonitors.blogspot.in/2014/05/dying-persons-release-countless-photons.html)

  In my previous parish, the priest used to remind the faithful every now and then. “Do you know how many of you will be there in the church on the same day next year? Nobody can be sure,” he used to say.

 Your fixed deposits, rubber plantation, white collar job, luxury cars and villas then become meaningless. 

  We need to remember the parables in the Bible. Watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions, the Bible says. Jesus told people this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."

 But God said to him, “you fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God," Jesus said.

  In short, Jesus is alluding to the meaninglessness of your wealth creation beyond a point.

 If you want to be on the right side of God on the judgment say, listen to what Jesus says. Follow the word of God. You and your family will be victorious.