Are We Going To Die Foolishly?

I listened to a story that forms the basis of my write up for today and loved it a lot. The story should be conceived as an illustration of some lessons we need to draw from it. It doesn’t necessary mean that I subscribe to the thought that dead people can communicate with the living.

Secondly it is a story I heard from someone else. So if it feels that I overrated it in terms of the love I accorded it, kindly forgive my selective endearment with it. Please know that one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Spill it or chew it depending on its taste in your mouth.

So the story goes that one man lived on this earth for a long time. In everything he did, it was about himself. In him, his interests mattered above everyone else’s and so he lived a very good live on this earth as an individual.

As fate has it always, time came for this mean to die and go to stay with his ‘kinsmen’ in the after land. This story has it that the man travelled for many days on a lonely path headed to his destination among the spirits. He didn’t know what surprise awaited him.

After many days he arrived at the gates of heaven where he was supposed to sign in before joining the bigger team of his friends who had gone before him but lo! He was turned downed and sent away simply because he was alone. Apparently nobody was allowed to enter this haven alone, they were supposed to be with other people.

Simply to mean that to get access into heaven, this guy needed to have ministered to some one other individual or more so that they could guarantee him getting a gate pass. Suffice it to say that the man had died foolishly.

As a fact this man had lived foolishly. He lived selfishly and so even in death, he continued with the selfishness only to realize that he had left the keys for heaven behind. The story doesn’t tell us where this man went to after being turned down. The only probable answer to this wonder is hell and I bet it is not a pleasant place to be.

Exploring along these lines, could it be that we are living foolishly in this life while we are busy throwing away the keys for our heavens. That at every single opportunity we get, our business is to exploit others. That we have made it our life mission to think of ourselves only and leaving those in need to die in their misery while we watch.

The bible has a passage that speaks of a certain Lazarus and another foolish rich man. The story closely resembles the one I gave in that the rich man used to feed Lazarus the debris of his food that were given to the dogs. In fact the scripture states that this man, Lazarus ate with the dogs. Simply to mean he was equated to a dog.

And then the two died only to realize that the humility of character in the poor Lazarus was his key to heaven while the pride and selfishness of the rich man was his key to hell. So while in hell he tried reversing the order of things, but it was too late.

So what is it with these two stories? What equates with living wisely so that we may not die foolishly? How do we measure this wise living?

To me, wise living is about the selfless giving of oneself to the service of others. Probably we have been blessed differently and within the confines of those blessings, we ought to be a bridge to them that have been endowed way below our levels.

I have not seen people who served others according to their needs live regretful lives. These are people who live full filling lives and die with contentment that they have touched hearts and impacted the people God put on their ways.

They are the people who make the heavens open door when they are seen from afar off because they never come alone but with multitudes of people who give the account of the help they accorded them while they still lived.

And when they are asked of what they have that remained in terms of the gifts and talents they were given, they stand heads high and report that it was all used up. And the hosts rejoice while those they were used on stand prove to the claim.

Could it be that we are living selfish lives? And if so, does it mean we are living foolishly? We still have today to change our fate by living wisely through serving those in need and when we die we will be counted as those who died wisely.

Let’s us serve others while it still today and we will live enriching lives. One we will cherish again and again and pass it on to the coming generations.

End

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