Last Letters

Today as I was driving home from the gym (or the hour of torture as I like to call it) I flipped to a country station on the radio. Now, being from East Tennessee you have to at least have some tolerance for country and I'll admit - there are even a few artists that I enjoy. Okay, they're cheesy but there are some country songs that really get to me. One is a song by Tim McGraw called "If Your Reading This" which he wrote as a tribute to American soldiers who have lost their lives fighting for our country. The song is about a letter that each soldier writes but hopes is never read - the letter that's given to loved ones when the soldier doesn't come home. My brother wrote letters like that the week before he left for Iraq. I'm so glad that we never read those letters but I teared up as I drove home thinking of all the wives, children, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends who have read those letters over the year. What would you say in your last letter? How does life change when you know you're going into battle? When you know you may not come home? What kind of hope and comfort would that letter offer to those left behind.

I then started to think about last words - how they matter so much. One of my favorite books in the bible is II Timothy - Paul's last words to his disciple Timothy.

One line that Paul writes just a handful of sentences before the letter closes is

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.

This line really struck me. Yes, Paul has fought the good fight - he has finished strong! But then he says,

I have remained faithful

. Why did Paul - the Paul who took the gospel to the places it had never been while being beaten, arrested, shipwrecked and stoned have to say he had remained faithful? I think maybe I would have said something different - like

I'm in the home stretch

or

I'm ready to go - come get me Lord

but instead Paul says

I have remained faithful

Now as I sit and think about it, remaining faithful to anything but my happiness isn't very easy. If I believe that the call to follow Christ isn't just a segment of my life but demands my entire life, then remaining faithful is about much more than having a good ministry, being involved in a local church and not doing any of the "thou shalt nots'. It's about every thought, every attitude, every moment of every day. It's about loving the Lord my God with all my heart, all my mind and all my soul. When I look at my life, often I'm not faithful. I'd rather be happy than faithful. I'd rather be entertained. I'd rather be busy so I can feel important. I'd rather get the praise that belongs only to God. Remaining faithful is hard for me and no one has ever tried to stone me!

So I wonder what I would write in my last letter? I hope like Paul I will be able to say that I remained faithful. I hope that my life teaches me what it means to be a faithful follower of Christ, not a person devoted to making my life better. I hope that someday if some one is reading my last letter it inspires them to continue on toward God!