13. You are Mortal

 

Death.

One of those unavoidable things that we all try to avoid as much as possible.  We don’t like to talk about it, we get uncomfortable when we hear about it, we certainly don’t want it to happen to us, and we generally regard it as unfortunate or regrettable. 

And well, it is. After all, God never intended for us to die. It was a consequence of sin. (Romans 5:12, Genesis 2:4 - 3:19)

Now, it is a part of our fallen human condition. We can escape taxes, but we can’t escape death.

What we can do is be prepared for it.

I’m not talking about writing a will and getting a burial plot and finding a life insurance plan. These focus on what happens to our earthly possessions and how to make earthly life better for those we love, after we are gone. They are all good things, but they often lack an eternal perspective.

The best way to prepare to leave this world is to recognize that this world is not our home. Too often, we behave like it is.

We spend just to acquire;

 

we save just to hoard;

 

we chase pleasure and ease, and argue that, at the end of the day, we are entitled to our indulgences.

 

 

 We put down roots and make ourselves comfortable.

 Indeed, we spend so much effort trying to make ourselves comfortable. But too much earthen comfort, pleasure, “security”, can sometimes make us forget that we are not at home here. The world presents goods to us as a “be all and end all”, telling us if we will buy this and do that we will be “all set.” And what results is a confused culture that views the means as the end and the end as the means.

To illustrate: My friend, Ken, has put it like this: “What is the SO THAT?” In other words, what is it we're aiming for? What is the goal we're working towards? Everything has a proper order. We go to school SO THAT we can get a better job. We work SO THAT we can make money, and we make money SO THAT we can provide for ourselves and others….Got the idea? We can easily become enamored or preoccupied by the means (ex: vain pursuit of higher education just to add titles or honor to our name; working to the point of neglecting our families; obsessing over or craving to make more money) and misplace or disregard the SO THAT, the proper end, the final purpose for the good we seek. When we do, we get stuck in the perpetual frustration of an obsessive-compulsive lifestyle. And we often expect God and those around us to be the means to help us secure these ephemeral goods.

The ultimate “SO THAT” is eternal life. When Jesus was asked by a scholar what must be done to inherit eternal life, Jesus asked the man what was written in the Jewish law. He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). Here are the two inseparable ends that Jesus shows us: love of God and love of neighbor. The things, the beauties, the programs and pleasures of this earth are good for us only so far as they are a means to these two ends.

Sometimes it takes facing death to reorient ourselves toward what is most important. Often, a man on his death bed is most concerned about making himself right with God, forgiving others and asking forgiveness, spending time with and expressing affection for loved ones, and letting go of all the “stuff” he held dear on this earth – the “stuff” he now realizes is only stuff, stuff that he can’t take with him when he goes. Not all of us have the good fortune of deathbed conversions and reconciliations. Not all of us will die on a bed surrounded by family and friends. Many of us will die unexpectedly. Not to be morbid, but it’s true.

When we ponder our own mortality, the meaning of our lives, and our final end, we can begin to live in the same way as we would hope to die. We can ask God to help us order our lives according to His Great Commandment, and to let go of the possessions, situations, attitudes and attachments that hinder us from reaching our final goal of union with Him in heaven. Then, our lives will be much more free and beautiful, and no matter how death presents itself to us, we'll be ready. We'll be ready to go home.

"When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased."
- C.S. Lewis -

“The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort; you were made for greatness.”
- Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI -