Think about Death

It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

Ecclesiastes 7:2-4

There is a tendency toward self-deception about death in all of us. We all claim to know that we'll die one day and yet when it begins to look like that may become a present possibility on any particular day we are taken off guard. Why is that? It's because we are easily self-deluded about our own mortality. We would much rather turn a blind eye and go on thinking about something more pleasant. In other words, we would rather go to the house of feasting than the house of mourning. 

But Solomon says it's better to go to the house of mourning. Why? Well, what benefit can one get from going to a feast? Perhaps a little happiness or merriment but no positive life change. But, when you go to a funeral there is at least a chance that you will consider your end and adjust your way of living accordingly. Though the Hebrew is hard to understand, I believe this is what Solomon means in verse three when he says "by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better." No one has ever become a better person because they went to a party, but some lives have been changed for the better by great loss.

So take a page out of the playbook of the wise. Even though you would rather do about anything else, discipline yourself to think about death for "that is the end of all men." And I would add that of all people it is believers who should be able to think the most clearly about death because we know that it no longer holds power over us. Death has been swallowed up in victory in Christ Jesus our Lord and one day it will be no more. Until that day, be ready and live in such a way that death won't take you by surprise or leave you ashamed of the life you lived.