Finishing Well - a podcast by Lewis Marsh

Living By Faith In a Faithless World

Part 7: Finishing Well

By Louie Marsh, 12-26-2021

 

Letter To The Wrong Wife

 

A couple from Minneapolis decided to go to Florida for a long weekend to thaw out during one particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the very same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years ago. Because both had jobs, they found it difficult coordinating their travel schedules. It was decided that the husband would fly to Florida on a Thursday, and his wife would follow him the next day.

Upon arriving as planned, the husband checked into the hotel. In his room there was a computer, so he decided to send his wife an E-mail back in Minneapolis. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her address, and sent the e-mail without realizing his error.

 

In Houston, a widow had just returned from her husband's funeral. The dearly departed was a minister of many years who had been called home to glory following a heart attack. The widow checked her e-mail, expecting messages from  relatives and friends. Upon reading the first message, she fainted. The widow's son ran into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:

 To: My Loving Wife
 Subject: I've Arrived.

I know you are surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you are allowed to send e-mail to your loved ones. I've just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then!
Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

P.S. Sure is hot down here

 

TO FINISH WELL I MUST…

 

1) Learn to mourn my loved ones death  FAITHFULLY.

 

•  FULLY express my grief.

 

Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. Genesis 23:1-2 (NIV)

 

• View the experience as an OPPORTUNITY to grow.

 

Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, "I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead." Genesis 23:3-4 (NIV)

 

• Recover and then LIVE AGAIN.

 

He bought the plot of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre. This included the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees nearby. They became Abraham's permanent possession by the agreement made in the presence of the Hittite elders at the city gate. So Abraham buried Sarah there in Canaan… Genesis 23:17-19 (NLT)

 

People who are totally crushed for the rest of their lives by a loved ones death – or they own impending death, need to look carefully at what we talked about last week – putting people or things in place of God.

 

• Move ahead – no TURNING BACK!

 

Abraham was now a very old man, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. One day Abraham said to the man in charge of his household, who was his oldest servant, "Swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not let my son marry one of these local Canaanite women. Genesis 24:1-3 (NLT)

 

2) Remember God’s Plan is LARGER than my life.

 

• PLAN beyond my lifetime.

 

Ephron was sitting there among the others, and he answered Abraham as the others listened, speaking publicly before all the elders of the town. "No, sir," he said to Abraham, "please listen to me. I will give you the cave and the field. Here in the presence of my people, I give it to you. Go and bury your dead." Abraham bowed again to the people of the land, and he replied to Ephron as everyone listened. "No, listen to me," he insisted. "I will buy it from you. Let me pay the full price for the field so I can bury my dead there." Genesis 23:10-13 (NLT)

 

• Help PREPARE the next generation -

 

I will praise your mighty deeds, O Sovereign LORD. I will tell everyone that you alone are just and good. O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I have constantly told others about the wonderful things you do. Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me. Psalms 71:16-18 (NLT)

 

• WISELY DELEGATE  my resources to continue God’s work when I’m dead.

 

Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east. Genesis 25:5-6 (NIV)

 

I’m not just talking about money or wealth here. How about a spiritual journal you could pass on, sharing your insights and experiences? Be creative and leave things that will have an eternal impact behind you after you’ve gone.

 

3) Live till I DIE!

 

• Keep finding NEW THINGS to do!

 

Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. Genesis 25:1-2 (NIV)

 

• Stay involved in COMMUNITY.

 

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes. Psalms 133:1-2 (NIV)

 

• Don’t give into FEAR.

 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalms 23:4 (NIV)

 

A sick man turned to his doctor, as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, "Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side."

Very quietly, the doctor said, "I don't know."

"You don't know?  You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?"  Queried the man. 

The doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.

Turning to the patient, the doctor said, "Did you notice my dog? He's never been in this room before.  He didn't know what was inside.
He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.  I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing...

I know my Master is there and that is enough."

 

Too many older people give into fear and live their last years driven by fear. I know you have to be more careful in terms of health and physical safety as you age, but to finish your life living by fear instead of living by faith – is a tragic legacy to leave!

 

• Remember – death is a NEW BEGINNING in Christ!

 

Altogether, Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, Genesis 25:7-9 (NIV)

 

The Rev. Jack Arnold, 69, was nearing the end of his sermon Sunday at Covenant Presbyterian Church in this Orlando suburb in 2005.  Arnold quoted the 18th century Bible scholar, John Wesley, who said, "Until my work on this earth is done, I am immortal. But when my work for Christ is done ... I go to be with Jesus," Then he said, "And when I go to heaven ...," when he grabbed the podium before falling to the floor.

 

Several members of the congregation with medical backgrounds tried to revive the minister and paramedics were called, but Arnold appeared to die instantly.

Arnold had been the senior minister at the church until the late 1990s when he began traveling to Africa and the Middle East to teach pastors. The cause of death was believed to be cardiac arrest. He had bypass surgery five years earlier.

 

"We were stunned," Beates said. "It was traumatic, but how wonderful it was he died in his own church among the people he loved the most."

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