Here are some notes and quotes from Don Emerson's message on Sunday...“A wise person always lives with the end in mind”
“'If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you will be right.' When I was 17, I read this quote and for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself; ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I have ever encountered to help me make the big choices of life.” (--Steve Jobs, Stanford University, 2005)
We leave lasting footprints after we’re gone by...
--Demonstrating how to handle failure.
--Investing in the lives of others around us.
--By modeling the good life of loving and obeying God.
--By showing how to die with confidence and hope.
We leave lasting footprints after we’re gone by...
1) Demonstrating how to handle failure.
“ … I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not enter the land.” (Deut. 34:4)
“The realism of the Bible is that God does not excuse sin, but neither is he finished with us when He finds sin in us …the leadership of biblical men was not in every case ended because they sinned. God knew from the beginning who Moses was. God had no illusions that here was a perfect man … God is the sovereign God who is never taken by surprise … God is not romantic concerning men.” (Francis Schaeffer, No Little People)
2) Investing in the lives of others around us.
“ … Now Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people obeyed him, doing just as the LORD had commanded Moses” (Deut. 34:9)
3) Living a life of loving and obeying God.
“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster … O that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! …This is the key to your life.” (Deut. 30:11, 19, 20)
4) Showing how to die with confidence and hope.
“ … Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever.” (Deut. 34:7)
“I once scorned every fearful thought of death,
When it was but the end of pulse and breath.
But now my eyes have seen that past the pain
There is a world waiting to be claimed.
Earthmaker, Holy, let me now depart,
For living’s such a temporary art.
But dying is but getting dressed for God,
Our graves are merely doorways cut in sod.”
(Calvin Miller, The Divine Symphony)
“Half the places at the round table were empty and among those missing were many of the best who used to sit there. And of those that were there, many had wounds and scars, and most were changed in some way from what they had been before. And he thought that the high adventure of the Grail had been a costly one.” (King Arthur and the Quest for the Holy Gail)
“A wise person always lives with the end in mind”
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