Giving One’s Life—For Another
A National Cemetery for deceased soldiers is a beautiful place. Truly, any soldier would be honored to be buried there. Yesterday morning, we drove toward the airport so we could travel to see our girls. As I drove north, we passed by Camp Nelson National Cemetery on the right side of the road, and I found my gaze drawn to the waving flags and the rows upon rows of white headstones marking the plot of a deceased soldier. My husband has served in the military for twenty years, and often, I have remarked how he might consider being laid to rest in a military cemetery (rather than at the church where our cemetery plots have been secured).
However, during this year, a new thought has come to me regarding my remains after my death, so as I drove by the cemetery, a comment came from my mouth—“I really think I am reconsidering whether or not I want to be buried. I think I want to be cremated instead.”
Now many would see the topics of death, burial, & cremation as odd or distasteful or really just something to be avoided all together. Yet I wonder:
Does it really matter how one’s body is disposed after life is complete?
In Germany, I have strolled through the elaborately decorated gardens and pathways designed to allow a visitor to meander throughout a memorial garden, reading tombstone after tombstone of the deceased. In the garden, each burial plot is rented by the family for a hefty sum, year after year, while the family also maintains the square garden plot in front of the tombstone. This memorial garden is really quite the sight to behold.
In America, I have strolled through large cemeteries filled with numerous burial plots.
In other parts of the world, many are cremated & few are buried in the ground.
However, does it really matter if our family places our dead body in any of these locations?
- Burial at Sea.
- Burial in a National Cemetery.
- Burial in an Elaborately Decorated Garden.
- Cremation.
- Burial on the Family Farm.
- Burial in the Potter’s Place (the cemetery’s location for the John & Jane Doe who are deceased)
REALLY—Does it truly matter how one’s body is disposed after life is complete?
In reading the Bible this morning as the sun arose, I discovered the truth.
No, not really.
No, it does not matter what becomes of our earthly body because our body will return to the soil.
The Bible speaks of life and death, but mostly life.
The Word of God tells one how he should not die without Christ, but the Scripture primarily tells one how the only true life is the “LIFE” found in Jesus.
As I watched the sunrise, I found myself reading the words of Jesus.
SEE these words with me.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, that a man will lay down his life for his friends.”
(John 15: 12-13 NASB 2020)
- Eulogies
- Epitaphs
- Elegies
- Songs written & sung
- Words
What someone says about us after we are gone—how we are remembered—that is important.
- Did we, during our lifetime, lay down our lives for others?
- Did we, during our lifetime, love one another out loud and intentionally?
- Did we, during our lifetime, love our friends with enthusiasm, striving to help them at all cost?
- Did we, during our lifetime, love others as much as we loved ourselves?
- Did we, during our lifetime, love others as Jesus taught His disciples to love?
- Did we, during our lifetime, love others as Jesus did?
Truly, it does not matter what becomes of our earthly body; however, it does matter how we live our life—for others!
Truly, the more important question is—Are we leaving a Christlike legacy when our body returns to the soil and our soul leaves earth to be with the LORD?
Giving One’s Life—For another—far outweighs what others notice or say about our burial plots.
Giving One’s Life—For another—far outweighs anything we will ever do AFTER our death.
Giving One’s Life—For another—is what Jesus commissioned us to do.
YES, GIVING ONE’S LIFE—FOR OTHERS—IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TASK WE CAN DO!