The Punchline

My memories are a bit grainy, but so were the commercials. The company used pirates, gangsters, the French Foreign Legion, a death row inmate and even an amorous walrus to ask one iconic question. The ad I remember most clearly opened in the old west with a scene in silhouette; beneath a spreading tree, a man perched atop a horse, hands tied, a noose around his neck. The camera cut in close revealing a silver star glinting on his chest. The sheriff’s lynching party was made up of black-hatted, scruffy outlaws. The gang leader leaned in, sneering and asked … “Is that too tight?” The sheriff stoically answered, “Nope.” “Any last words?” snarled the gloating miscreant, “Nope,” replied the brave lawman. Finally, the smirking outlaw asked the punchline question we all came to anticipate, “Then whata you want on your Tombstone?” Cheesy commercials (pun intended) … but a great question. One day, those who know you best may be called upon to epitomize your life in one succinct statement. What will they say? How will you be remembered?
 
More importantly, what will be God’s pronouncement over your life? Men and women can be fooled, but the Bible confronts us with these sobering word, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.Hebrews 4:13
 
The Bible has a surprising number of epitaphs. They were not chiseled in stone over graves, they were laid down by the Holy Spirit in God’s Word: His eternal testimony over the lives of men and women. Some epitaphs drip with the despair of divergent lives devoid of God (1 Kings 26:16; 2 Timothy 4:10; Acts 24:25; Acts 26:28). Other epitaphs honor highly those who hounded God’s steps to the gates of heaven (Nehemiah 7:2; Daniel 6:4-5; Acts 9:36; James 2:23; Revelation 2:13; 2 Timothy 4:7-8). What do you want on your tombstone … and with God’s help what are you going to do about it?
 
 

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