Were You Alive When You Died?

Hebrews is one of my favorite books of the Bible.  It has so much to say to us about pursuing life with Christ.  I have always loved Hebrews 11, sometimes known as the “Heroes of Faith” chapter.  Well, McManus, in Wide Awake gives some great insight to this chapter as well.  He states, “If one thing is clear in this passage from Hebrews, it is that how long you live does not reflect how well you live.  The real question is, were you alive when you died?”  That is a heavy statement.  Do you get what he is saying?  It really doesn’t matter how long you live.  The length of your life is not a good indication of how well you are living your life.  But what does he mean by “were you alive when you died?”  That is the part that got me to thinking a lot about my life.  It is completely possible to live your life simply going through the motions; settling for a mediocre life because it’s comfortable or safe.  But is that what God has in store for our lives?  In the movie To Save a Life, Chris, a youth minister who is trying to help the main character Jake, puts it this way.  He says, “Jake, God wants so much more for your life than just fine.”  That sums it up.  When we settle for “fine” or “safe” or “mediocre” lives, then we really aren’t living the lives that God has prepared for us.  We might as well say that we are living our lives but we really aren’t alive.  I think that is what McManus is trying to say.  Let’s live our lives in such a way that there is no doubt that we were truly alive when this life comes to an end.

That leads directly to the next thought.  If we are living out our dreams and pursuing the life that God has prepared for us, then nothing can stop us.  I wrote yesterday about the idea that if God is for us then nothing can stop us.  Even if our lives come to an end, our dreams, if we have truly started trying to live them out, won’t just magically disappear.  Think about people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa.  They lived their lives with a dream and actively pursued those dreams.  One was killed and one lived a long life, yet their dreams continued in those that they touched with their lives.  McManus writes, “It is easier to kill a person than it is to kill a dream, once it captures your soul.”  Once a dream is realized and you are pursuing that dream, then, even if you are killed or die, that dream lives on in the people you have touched.  So again, let’s live our lives in such a way that there is no doubt that we were truly alive when this life comes to an end.

God Bless.