During the start of the
New Year, people often like to dream and plan for their lives in the coming
year.
Something that people are
less likely to think about during this time is death.
As someone who has experienced
the loss of loved ones and seen neighbors steadily die, I have been forced to
deal with the reality of death at a younger age. Fitting His character, Jesus
has worked in these areas of loss and grief to bring me closer to Him and give
me a different perspective on what truly matters in life.
Generally, people do not
think much about mortality until death confronts them in the form of a health
diagnosis or if a loved one dies, which is usually later in life. However, I
think if people were more aware of the fact that they would one day die and reflect
on the future of their eternity, their goals for the New Year, and for their
lives, would be vastly different.
This brings us to The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy, a story that starts with a funeral. Peter Ivanovich
attends out of respect and a sense of obligation to his old friend, Ivan Ilych.
However, when Peter sees the corpse of Ivan, he begins to feel uneasy at the
thought of his own mortality. Although Ivan’s expression showed that he was at
peace, “there was in that expression a reproach and a warning to the living” (Tolstoy
512). Peter shrugged off this warning like an uncomfortable coat, choosing to ignore
the fact that he would also die one day.
Later in the story,
readers learn how Ivan struggled in the face of death. Before Ivan died, he realized
that he had wasted his life on things that didn’t matter. He had built up a house
with numerous items and worked hard to ensure he possessed wealth, but he
neglected his family and acted selfishly. Furthermore, he ignored his spiritual
condition. Only in his illness, aware he would not recover, did Ivan entrust
his life to Christ and tried to ease the burden on his family. He discovered
that living selfishly, and accumulating the riches of the world, did not bring
him happiness.
The expression on Ivan’s
face at the funeral served as a warning to Peter, but also to Tolstoy’s
readers. In modern society, we are encouraged to think only of the present and
what will make us happy and comfortable. Even some Christians have bought into
this mindset, building treasure here on earth as if they do not have an eternal
home or treasure.
Ignoring the fact of
mortality and our futures in eternity is foolish. If an individual does not
know Jesus, then they will never know what true hope or peace is in life.
Furthermore, they will have no hope when they eventually confront death.
Christians have the assurance of eternal life, but so many of us are wasting
our precious energy and time chasing things in this world that do not matter in
eternity. One day, when we look back on our life, we might find ourselves in
the position of Ivan Ilych, aware that the things we poured our lives into were
trivial and did not give us joy.
In the past, Christians
commonly disciplined themselves to live in the world while focusing on
eternity. Thomas a Kempis, a Christian who lived in the late 14th
century and into the 15th century, wrote about the need to be aware
of death, not as morbid introspection, but as a prudent discipline to motivate
believers to live in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. As he wrote in his
devotional classic, The
Imitation of Christ, “How happy and prudent is he who tries now in life
to be what he wants to be found in death.”
Christians have salvation
because they trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection. They do not earn forgiveness
through good works (see Eph. 2:8-9). However, all believers will one day stand
before the Lord at the Judgment Seat of Christ to receive rewards or loss of
rewards based on their deeds (2 Cor. 5:10). We should want to hear Jesus’ words:
“Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:23, NIV).
Therefore, a wise practice when writing goals and thinking about the coming year would be to consider eternity. We will all die one day unless the Lord decides to return in our lifetime. I am not encouraging people to meditate on death to the point of becoming depressed. Rather, healthy consideration of our eternal future after death impacts how we live.
Stop trusting in items, health, or other pursuits to bring you contentment and happiness. Instead, look to Jesus, who said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11:25, NIV). With our eyes fixed firmly on our future with Christ, we can live abundantly and productively, making a difference in the present world while also impacting eternity.
Works
Cited
Kempis, Thomas a. The
Imitation of Christ. “The Twenty-Third Chapter: Thoughts on Death.” Christian
Classics Ethereal Library, https://ccel.org/ccel/kempis/imitation/imitation.one.23.html.
The Bible.
New International Version. Bible Hub, 2022.
Tolstoy, Leo. “The Death of Ivan Ilych.” Familiar Strangers. Edited by Mark Ray Schmidt. Macmillan Learning, 2020, pp. 510-555.
For
Further Reading and Thought
If you want to read the
rest of Thomas a Kempis’ thoughts about death, you can do so here.
Also, I would recommend
listening to the song “Live
Like That” by Sidewalk Prophets, which fits this theme of living in light
of eternity.
Finally, this article
from Crossway expands more on the idea of “Memento Mori” and how it
relates to us as believers.
