What Will Be Said at Your Funeral?

I went to a funeral in Manassas recently. The man was only 53 years old. He died leaving a wife and two children. And yet the funeral was amazing. The pastor and many attendees told stories about the man who died. While he was not known very far from Manassas, everyone there knew him to be a kind and generous man. The church was filled to capacity by folks who knew how kind and giving this man was. He wasn’t known for big things, but everyone knew him for small acts of kindness. He was the lay leader for the church and well known within his congregation.

Ecclesiastes 7:2 says, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than a house of feasting.” Verse 7:4 says, “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning” because there we learn what matters most. David Brooks says there are two kinds of virtues: those that look good on a resumé and those you want said at your funeral.

Solomon says some odd and morbid things in Ecclesiastes 7. Verse one says death is better than one’s birth. Verse 2 advises to attend funerals and not parties. Verse 4 says it’s wise to think a lot about death. Solomon knows that everyone dies, so it is good for us to live life thinking about death. Life is short, and verse 3 says “for sadness has a refining influence on us.”

The man’s funeral I attended in Manassas was a celebration. The man had never written a book or run for a public office, but he loved others, and that is why the people were there. What will be said at your funeral? What do you want to be said? We all need to develop eulogy virtues. Rest in Jesus! His salvation frees us to live for what matters the most.

Prayer – Father, give me the courage to live for what matters the most. Amen.

Ecclesiastes 7:2 – “…for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.”

By the Rev. Tommy Herndon
Images: Todd Thompson, The Good Funeral Guide & Sooz, courtesy of Unsplash