SYNOPSIS: One of the most profitable things you can do is to look ahead to the fateful day of your death and envision what will be engraved on your tombstone. That will become the final summation of your life—those half dozen words carved into granite by your loved ones. What do you want yours to say? Here is an idea: Start living that way now so that what you want your epitaph to say then will be a no-brainer for your family. If you want to be known then as a loving husband or wife, then start loving your spouse now! If you want to be known then as a good friend, then start now being the kind of friend that you would want to have! If you want to be known as one who served God wholeheartedly, then get with it right now. Whatever it is you want to be said of you then, start living that way now!
Moments With God // Proverbs 5:11 (The Message)
You don’t want to end your life full of regrets, nothing but sin and bones.
RIP! Unless Jesus returns sometime in the next 50 or so years—which I hope he does—you and I are likely to have a headstone that marks our final resting place. Rest In Peace! I know, that is kind of a morbid thought to start off a devotional, but it is true. It is a sobering and inescapable reality for all people, since the last time I checked, the human mortality rate was hovering around, oh, about 100%.
I think one of the healthiest things a person can do is to take a look ahead to that fateful day and envision what will be engraved on our tombstone. That really is the summation of our lives, isn’t it—those half dozen or so words carved into granite by our surviving loved ones.
What do you want yours to say? Here is a great idea: Start living that way now so that what you want your epitaph to say then will be a no-brainer for your family. If you want to be known then as a loving husband, then start loving your wife now! If you want to be known then as a good friend, then start being the kind of friend that you would want to have! If you want to be known as one who served God wholeheartedly, then get with it right now. Whatever it is you want to be said of you then, start living that way now! As Solomon said in Proverbs 5:7,
So, my friend, listen closely; don’t treat my words casually.
Seriously, this is no casual concern. So, give that some thought, and then just get after it!
By the way, the final line you will read at the end of this devotional comes from the incredible life of a young man who died on his way to the mission field—William Borden. You can read the full story at http://home.snu.edu/~HCULBERT/regret.htm.
Borden was heir to the Borden family’s wealth, gained through real estate investments and their dairy business. Upon graduation from high school, he informed family and friends that he wanted to become a missionary—a waste of a bright future, according to some. To that, Borden wrote in his journal, “No reserves.”
Borden went on to study at Yale but turned down high-paying job offers after graduation. Reportedly, in his Bible, he wrote two more words: “No retreats.”
He went on to do graduate work at Princeton Seminary in New Jersey. When he finished his studies at Princeton, he sailed for China. Because he was hoping to work with Chinese Muslims, he stopped first in Egypt to study Arabic. While there, he contracted spinal meningitis. Within a month, 25-year-old William Borden was dead.
When the news of the well-known young man’s death was cabled back to the U.S., the story was carried by multiple American newspapers. Author Geraldine Guinness Taylor wrote, “A wave of sorrow went round the world . . . Borden not only gave (away) his wealth, but himself, in a way so joyous and natural that it (seemed) a privilege rather than a sacrifice.”
As the story has it, prior to his death, he had written two more words in the back of his Bible. Underneath the words “No reserves” and “No retreats,” William Borden wrote, “No regrets.”
That was the summation of his brief life, and it is how I would like to be remembered, too: No reserves. No retreats. No regrets.
