Without Fault or Wrinkle

On Oct. 30th, 1994 I lost a close girlfriend of over 20 years to cancer.
On November 30th my loved mother-in-law died of a sudden heart attack.
On January 6th, a dear aunt passed away unexpectedly.
So in the space of two months I lost three women who were important in my life and I learned a lot about sorrow and grief and also comfort.

It is at the grief stricken or difficult times of our life that we re-evaluate. Our thoughts are forced down paths they have not previously gone... and we come to ponder things we have not had reason to ponder before. And sometimes we come to thought-provoking conclusions.

One of my observations was that something happens at a funeral service, in the eulogies and the tributes and memories that are shared. It seems that death filters away all the negative aspects of the person's personality or character and all that shines forth is a picture of a person without fault or wrinkle. The picture is not a false picture, the flaws have just been blotted out !

I pondered about why it is that we are so willing after a person is gone to remember only the good.
Then I realized that there was a prophetic aspect to this human tendancy.
It is a picture of what it will be like for us, God's children, when we stand before His judgement throne. When we stand before Him on that great day, the blood of Jesus will have blotted out all of our sin, all of our faults, and all that will shine forth for all to see will be the righteous deeds that we have done in His name and the beauty that He was able to create in us and through us. Isn't that a comforting and encouraging thought? Should that not inspire us to work harder to be formed in His image and work for the reward that is eternal?

Another thing I experienced was that as I listened to the things that were being said and as I myself reflected on the lives of each of these three women , I began to wish that I could have the opportunity to know them again. People shared things about them that I hadn't known, or just hadn't seemed important enough for me to discover when they were alive..... and now when it suddenly was important to me... it was too late.There were things I wish I had asked them and hadn't. And I wished I had spent much more time with them when I had the chance.

The thought came to me as I struggled with my regrets that an infinitely greater regret to me would be if on that day that I will see my God face to face I would suddenly realize that there was so much about Him I never bothered to learn, so much I missed because I was too busy with other things. I want to be able to say when I look into His face, "Oh God, you are just as I have always known you !!"
I want to know that when I pass over the timeline that stretches the barrier between this life and the next that I have been diligent in getting to know everything about God. I want to know that I walked as intimately as I could in my relationship with Him. What is more important in this life but to know the One with Whom we will spend all eternity ?!!

God has given us this incredible invitation to be in relationship with Him, can we give Him less than the best of our time and dilegence and not live to regret it?

Jeremiah 9:24
" ... but let him that glorieth , glory in this... That he understandeth and knoweth me... "