PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: What kind of epitaph are you living?
By: Ron Woodrum
If you visit Dodge City, Kansas, you can visit the historic Boot Hill Cemetary. You will likely be drawn to a grave with two boots sticking up out of the ground, with a marker that has the following epitaph: “Here Lies Old Joe-He died with his boots on!” You might figure out quickly that Old Joe isn’t actually buried there. But I am sure there are many buried there who could accurately fit that epitaph! There are many epitaphs that have become famous over time. A greek poet wrote on the tombs of Spartan heroes that fought in the Battle of Thermopylae: “Go, tell the Spartans, gentle passer-by-That here, obedient to their law, we lie”. On the grave of William Shakespeare was written these words: “He was not of an age, but for all time”. A famous scientist had on his stone: “He died learning”. Ben Franklin wrote his own epitaph: “The Body of B. Franklin, Printer. Like the cover of an old book-Its contents torn out-and stript of its lettering and gilding-lies here food for worms. But the work shall not be lost. For it will, as he believed, appear once more in a new and more perfect edition-corrected and amended by the Author”. C.S. Lewis told of an athiest’s grave that had written: “All dressed up and no place to go”. Lewis added: “I bet he wishes it was so!” Another famous epitaph read: “Remember friend, when passing by-As you are now, so once was I-As I am now, soon you will be, Prepare for death and follow me.” Someone amended the epitaph to further read:”To follow you I am not content-Until I know which way you went!”
There are two epitaphs in Holy Scripture that I believe would be epitaphs that we should so live to have written on our tomb. Both were written by God for two individuals who served him faithfully, though not perfectly, during their lifetimes. One is David. In Acts 13:22, during Stephen’s long sermon, he referred to the epitaph that God Himself ordained for David. Stephen quotes God saying, “I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do”. Can God write of you and I-“A man or woman after mine own heart?” God, right in the midst of the chapter on death, records the experience of one of the few men that would avoid physical death. He writes this epitaph: “Enock walked with God and he was not-FOR GOD TOOK HIM (TO HEAVEN)”. (Gen. 5:24). What a simple but significant epitaph. “He walked with God-God Took Him”. That is what today’s message is about. Walking with God, as Jesus walked with God, in the midst of our generation, so that those we come in contact with us will witness the reality of eternal life, in real life situations.
It was this kind of believer that John Wesley had in mind when he wrote: “Give me one hundred men, who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.” That sounds like the aged Apostle John recruiting his little children to walk as Jesus walked in the world, and be used of Him to transform it. Walking with Him transforms us…doing it in the real world will transform the world. Walk on…in His steps…in His power!
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