The Casket

When it was my turn all to step up to the casket and view the deceased it was a shocking moment. As I looked into that casket the thought that kept running through my head was, “I should have been bolder to talk to him about Jesus and I never did.” So now, the moment I should have been comforting his family, all I could think was that this man may be spending an eternity in hell because I didn’t want to bring up an uncomfortable topic. Has this ever happened to you? It certainly has happened to me.

At some funerals that I have conducted I should have been radically honest and said something like this; “your uncle has died and gone to hell because I didn’t talk to him about Jesus when I had a chance. In fact, none of us talked to him about Jesus. We all thought that it was good enough if we lived a life of faith in front of him. Somehow he was supposed to figure it all out because we were nice people and went to church.” We don’t say that though, we would rather dance around the subject instead of indicting ourselves for being chickens about sharing our faith. Let’s change that.

Paul once wrote, “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes…(Romans 1:16).” Being afraid to share my faith is a sign of shame. I am a Jesus follower and I don’t need to hide my faith, and I don’t need to downplay it and I’m not embarrassed about it. I publicly declared my faith through baptism. The power of God through the cross of Christ has transformed my life. I have a personal experience of salvation and I want everyone to have that same experience. Following Jesus is a good thing, it’s the best thing. The day that Jesus gave me his full salvation was the best day of my life.

I have decided that I never want to look into another casket and wish for a second chance to talk to that person. Whatever risk I might have to take it however uncomfortable it might be I have an obligation to do more than just live the faith, I need to speak about this great salvation in Jesus to people who need to hear it which is everyone.