I think one of the hardest places to be present for emotionally is a funeral for someone who died likely having rejected Christ as their savior. Unlike with the death of a believer, you can’t with an honest heart comfort someone with the fact the person is in heaven with God where one day they might be reunited together. Though the funeral for a non-believer can leave an added sadness, there really is a tactful and respectful way to remember the person and even turn the situation at hand to bring glory to God.
- Realize we really don’t know what happens in those final seconds before a person dies. We really won’t know if a person has submitted their lives to God prior to their last breath and heartbeat until one day we see them or not.
- Even if the person wasn’t saved, perhaps their actions still resembled very Christ-like ones. It is still an opportunity to bring glory to God, reflecting on how God can use even a non-believer to touch the lives of others.
- Remember the good times and focus on memories that make you smile. Once a person is gone, they’re gone. Worrying about their eternity after the fact doesn’t benefit them or you. It’s better to use a person’s death as a wake-up call to the reality that awaits us all and think about those who are living where there is still hope.
I had a loved one die tragically. It was hard enough dealing with the reality of his life’s end. There is still a deep grief in my heart not knowing if I’ll ever see him again. I have to remember his life doesn’t have to be in vain. We have choices and consequences for those choices in our lives. I believe anyone’s life can be an example of that.
We’re given perspective to have in the book of Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 (NKJV):
“A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one’s birth; better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart.”
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One Life to Live: Making the Most of Your Life