Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king; he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He died to no one’s regret and was buried in the city of David but not in the tombs of the kings.
Could this possibly be the worst epitaph ever?
He died to no one’s regret….
What an absolutely awful obituary! He ruled in such godless, evil fashion that no one was even sad when he died nor did they miss him. No one regretted his passing. There was no “Celebration of Life”, as we like to call it. They must have celebrated his death. Don’t be deceived, how we live our lives and lead others will be reflected in the response of others to our death. The call of those who have chosen to follow Christ is to live in such a way that we bring glory to God and show love and compassion to our fellow men, especially in leadership roles. We cannot control how people feel about us or what they will say when we die, but we should always be conscious of what we are saying and doing to others and how it is impacting them. We are called to love our neighbor as ourself. There may be a few oddballs who hate themselves but I would argue that even this “hate” simply illustrates how much they think about and regard themselves. We tend to think about what we love. I do not believe the second greatest commandment is calling us to “first love ourselves” so that we can love others. It stands on the fact that most everyone loves themselves and Jesus calls us to love others in the same manner. Our call is to think about, regard, love, others first. This alone will lead us to live a life that glorifies God and blesses others. Then, those who are left behind won’t regret our passing, they will praise God for who we were and how we glorified Him on this earth.
May God have mercy on our selfish hearts.
Philippians 2.3-4 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
Ventanas 