Scripture

Our verse for today comes from 2 Samuel 23:1, ” Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David the son of Jesse; thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel. ” 

Background

Pistol ” Pete Maravich was a college and professional basketball star who retired from the NBA after playing ten seasons. He still holds the NCAA scoring record for total points and scoring average. When he was 40, he was playing in a pickup basketball game when he told someone, ” I feel great. ” Moments later, he dropped dead on the court. James Brown was the renowned ” Godfather of Soul. ” At 73-years-old, he contracted pneumonia, and on Christmas Day, 2006, he lay in bed with his family around him. Finally, he uttered, ” I’m going away tonight. ” And after a few more breaths, he died. Buddy Rich, known as the world’s greatest drummer, was about to have surgery in 1987. As the nurse prepped him, she asked, ” Is there anything you can’t take? ” Buddy replied, ” Yeah, country music. ” The drummer died from heart failure following the surgery. It’s practically impossible to know when you will speak your last words. The uncertainty of death’s timing can be seen as a blessing or a curse, something not worth considering or something to dread. Just as uncertain, though, is the probability of innumerous future opportunities to speak with another. There is no guarantee that you’ll make another call, or see that person again, or that they will be there next time to answer your text. If we somehow knew that the next time would be our last time, we all would make sure of certain things, wouldn’t we? We’d say what needed to be said. We’d end it on the right note, and we wouldn’t mention so much that matters so little. 

Application

When Groucho Marx was dying, he quipped, ” This is no way to live. ” Well, many of our words too often come across as words of death instead of words of life. We have eternal life within us, but sometimes that’s not what people hear from us. If you had spoken with someone for what turned out to be the final time, what would they have heard from you? Perhaps considering that possibility is not such a bad way to live. 

Charge

As we seek Him today, let every word from you be worthy of a final word.  

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words