Lips and Life

Nobody likes a funeral. 

In my life, I’ve been to more than I’d care to remember; and as a pastor I’ve had to lead many of them too – my first was my grandfathers! 

One of the toughest things I’ve had to do as a pastor is to do a funeral for someone I had not known or even met. Especially (tragically) when it feels like those left behind appear to be battling to find nice anecdotes about the one who has passed on. You’ve probably been to a funeral like that, where the “lips don’t match the life”! 

There is a verse that captured my attention in Proverbs 11, v7. It reads “When an evil man dies, all hope is lost, for his misplaced confidence goes in the coffin and gets buried along with him.”

I don’t want that to be my story, and I guess you would say the same. I want my story to be one where my lips match my life, full of righteousness, humility and integrity. As someone once said “With integrity, nothing else matters. Without integrity, nothing else matters”!

Thank you Jesus that my starting point is that I AM a son of righteousness!