Hey! Welcome to Morning Eulogy. Many of you are new here. I’m honored you hit subscribe and gave me a place in your inbox. You can read all of my old posts, so, take some time and look around. Death is a niche subject, but it’s relevant to all. I hope that you and me giving it some consideration will pay dividends.
Jonathan Edwards will continue to go down in history as one of America’s greatest theologians. Many will be familiar with his name from his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” But he wrote and preached on much more than that, such as his dissertation “Concerning the End for Which God Created the World.” As a 19 year old with a high call to pastor in New York City, he began writing down guidelines for his life. These came to be his 70 resolutions. This is a short series on some of those resolutions.
#7 Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
We typically turn this around. We don’t want to face our death. So we try to put a positive spin on things. We might say it like this: “Resolved, always to do everything, with all confidence, as though it were the first hour of my life.” We hear things like, “You only get one life!’, “Your whole life is ahead of you!” And these are true, somewhat helpful statements. But they ignore our death, the one and only thing that is certain in this life. Edwards was resolved to not ignore the facts. He faced them straight on. He was determined to let the fact of his death shape his life.
The emphasis in this resolution is “the last hour of my life.” We want our last hour to be meaningful. We want it to be powerful. As we are dying, we hope to impart life to those with hours left. Our last hour is our last chance to talk to others. We would want to be encouraging, not discouraging. To make things right with someone. It would be our last chance to eat what we like. To be with who we love. To worship to our favorite songs.
I think to put it succinctly, we wouldn’t waste our last hour if we knew it was here.
The immediate question that we ask then, is, “what would I be afraid of doing as my final act?” Get your answer and then don’t do those things. It reminds me of Dwight Schrute when he said,
“Whenever I am about to do something, I think, ‘would an idiot do that?’ And if they would, I do not do that thing.”
Would this be shameful to do, if it were my last hour? Would I be afraid to be doing what I am doing right now, if it were my last hour?
We should also think of this on the other side of not doing x, y, and z. Some may think, “well if it is my last hour, I should not order the appetizer and a meal.” And that may be the best decision for you. For me, at times, if I am considering this to be my final hour, I’m ordering two appetizers and tipping 30% on the bill. I am saying yes to sleeping in. I am saying no to yet another invitation to something I am not all that thrilled about. I’m going to take some risks - I'm gonna go for it. Or I won’t, because that’s what’s best for me and for those closest to me.
There is delight to be found in living with the end in mind. There has to be.
Right?
Here’s to not wasting our lives.