Eccl. 7:2.4 Spending time at funerals.

Eccl. 7:2,4 It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals. For you are going to die and you should think about it while there is time. A wise person thinks much about death, while the fool thinks only about having a good time now.

Most of us would rather not spend a lot of time at funerals.  Funerals are for people who we care about who have died.  They are usually very difficult for us emotionally, especially if they are for people who have a very close tie to our hearts.  We don’t want to deal with losing someone we dearly love.  We don’t want to live life without those we love.  We can’t imagine what life is going to be like without them.

Yes, for some funerals are often a time of celebration for those whom we know are in heaven when they die, and they should be.  However, it is also a time of grief as the reality sets in, and it should be. 

However, as painful emotionally as funerals are to us, they are a good thing.  It is at funerals that we are most likely to think about our own mortality.  God gives us the opportunity to examine our lives and make sure that we are ready to die.  We need to periodically take a soul inventory.  It is so easy to get so caught up into living that we ignore our dying.  Each of us is going to die and we had better be ready at all times because no one knows when that moment will come. 

Death is so unpredictable; it is but a breath away for all of us.  We get this unfortunate notion that only sick or old people die.  We choose not to consider that accidents happen all the time that take lives or that there are forces of nature that take lives.  We ignore the fact that death can happen to us while we are enjoying life.  It happens to other people, but not to us.  But, it does happen to us.  Only God knows when we will take our last breath.  It is foolish to live life without death in view.

Living life to the fullest means that you are living your life in Christ so that you will be ready to die at any moment.  It is not living in fear of death, but living in anticipation of that day when we will be with the Lord.  Death is a good thing when we know that heaven awaits us.  Is your living a testimony that you are ready to die?