Where Did I Go Wrong?

A couple of thoughts that keep me awake some nights are:

Like sheep, we have all gone astray (Isaiah 53:6), and for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

Thankfully, I’ve never heard a voice respond back to me and say that it was going to be a long night.  But instead, I am comforted by the promise of 1 John 1:9.  I sleep pretty well after that.

Momento Mori helps me to keep a short account of my offenses.

We Get What We Give (Sometimes)

Congratulations to my son Ben who is graduating from the University of St. Thomas this week.

In honor of this great achievement, I’ve decided to debut his music video from a recent class project.

One question: How come I never had projects like this when I was in school?

Anyway, here’s a small glimpse of what four years of college (and some conservative upbringing from two imperfect but extremely wise parents) resulted in:

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.  (Matthew 7:12)

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.  (Luke 6:35)

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Momento Mori not only emphasizes our reasons for living but also results in a joyous generosity (even if our giving is not always reciprocated).

Life

(Click on the photo below by artist Adonis Werther for better detail)

What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Momento Mori.

Will I Fit Through The Narrow Gate?

While this cartoon might be intended to be funny or light-hearted about the matter of a narrow gate, there are some threads of great theological truths interwoven within.

John MacArthur warns of those who teach that the gate is wide and of the importance of examining ourselves prior to attempting to enter the narrow gate:

The rich young ruler in Matthew 19 wasn’t willing to do that [cast himself on the mercy of God]. He wanted to enter the Kingdom but on his terms. However, that’s like trying to put a camel through the eye of a needle. The only way into the Kingdom is by becoming broken in spirit, mournful, and eager for a righteousness that you can’t attain and don’t deserve.

Most people don’t want to meet those conditions. They want to do things their way. They resemble a man with four pieces of luggage–worldliness, sin, Satan, and self–trying to get through the turnstile into the Kingdom. They want in so they can have happiness and stay out of hell, but they want in on their terms. However, the Lord said, “Enter in at the narrow gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in that way” (Matt. 7:13). Many people enter through the wide gate because they can take their baggage of good works and self-righteousness with them. Verse 14 continues, “Narrow is the gate, and hard is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” The Greek word translated “hard” literally means “compressed.” You have to strip yourself of everything to go through the narrow gate.

Momento Mori reminds me that there are no trailer hitches on hearses.

How to Think Clearly and Act Boldly

It seems like my thinking gets clearer and better focused by acknowledging death.

Tyler Kennedy of Desiring God explains how:

Leprosy can make life a lot simpler. Being terminally ill often cultivates the clarity of mind that enables people to approach things that are good for them, but which previously made them cower.

Remember the four lepers of Samaria? The city was being starved to death under siege from Syria, and these four were stuck outside the gate between the city and the Syrian army.

They deliberated,

If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we  sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die. (2 Kings 7:4)

The question wasn’t whether or not they’d die. That was the no-brainer that their leprosy helped them recognize. The issue, then, was simply when and where: Next week in the city? Tomorrow at the gate? Or today at the hands of our enemies?

They concluded that their enemies could do nothing more to them than what nature had already assigned. And, unlike their city and their skin, their enemies might even show them mercy.

So, in this case, the most frightful prospect was actually the wisest, most fruitful way to go.

In other words, Momento Mori is a cure for fuzzy thinking and directly results in action-oriented boldness.  

Mow-mento Mow-ri

I know that this might sound crazy to most people, but I love mowing my lawn.  The smell of fresh cut grass is invigorating.  And the sight of a freshly mowed lawn often leaves me speechless.  While mowing, I often think about the Scripture verses in 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 and how I am in a small way, cooperating with God in the lawn business.  I cut, plant and water, but He causes the growth.  It  reminds me that I am called to faithfully do what I can, while at the same time not being too proud or haughty at the end result.  Because the almighty, omnipotent God was the One to cause the actual growth.  So in other words, mowing my lawn often humbles me.

I have read about people who speak about their preferable place to die (as if they had a choice in the matter).  Some would choose church as the best place to die.  Others mention golf courses, gardens, in the arms of a loved one or in their sleep as the most desirable places to be when they pass away.

Maybe mowing the lawn wouldn’t be such a bad place to be when I pass from this world…  It might even look something like this:

Momento Mori.

The Wheels of Life

 

I wonder at what stage of life most people begin considering thoughts of Momento Mori?

From One Dying Man to Another

English Puritan Richard Baxter (1615-1691) once preached that he was “a dying man preaching to dying men.”  Years later in 1879, Charles Spurgeon quoted Baxter’s expression and expounded upon it:

The Lord had told Peter how he was to die. He had told him that he would die by crucifixion: “When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” He knew that the day of his martyrdom was approaching, and so, being divinely warned, he was the more earnest to preach as a dying man to dying men. I have sometimes heard, as a criticism of that expression of Baxter’s about a dying man preaching to dying men, the remark that it would be better, as living men, to preach to living men. It is quite true that we must throw all our life into our preaching; but, as a rule, living men are never more truly alive than when they are under a due sense that they are also dying men. When we realize that eternity is very near us, and we are consciously drawing near to the great judgement-seat of Christ, than all our faculties are fully aroused, and our whole being is bent on doing the Master’s work with the utmost vigor and earnestness.

Spurgeon, C. H. (1998). Gathering Without Planting.  No. 3248.  Spurgeon’s Sermons: Volume 57

Could it be possible that both Baxter and Spurgeon were members of the Momento Mori club?

Maybe I’m Asking the Wrong Question

Sometimes catastrophes like the cyclone in Myanmar remind me of the tower in Siloam.

Instead of asking “Why this happens to people?” maybe a better question is “Why didn’t it happen to me?”

What are some ways to react to this cyclone disaster?

Maybe things like this happen as a reminder for me to be thankful… and to weep with those who weep… and to remember who is in control… and as a merciful warning to be repentant… and to Momento Mori.

A Powerful Message From ER

Sometimes even television shows and their writers consider the topic of Momento Mori.