Parts 1 & 2 of Lessons from Death focused on the phrase “Memento mori” – “Remember (that you have) to die” Part 3 focuses on remembering to live! Perhaps the Latin is “Memento vivere” – “Remember (that you have) to live!” I am also reminded of “Carpe Diem” – “seize the day” which has a similar meaning.  

So, the next question is, “How shall we live?” Shall we live as if this moment could be our last? Shall we live as if this moment could be the first moment of the rest of our lives? If we ask Luther for guidance, he might suggest the Bible and “plain reason” could be helpful here. To be honest, I find the Bible complex. I guess that’s where the plain reason comes in. However, I believe we have two great aids to help us with the Bible and with life, Jesus, and prayer.

On a number of occasions, I’ve tried to read the Bible straight through. I find it depressing, confusing, hard to understand and some parts hard to apply. I am greatly aided by starting with Jesus rather than the Bible as a whole. Some people might call that a “red letter Christian” approach. Maybe so. I like to go back to the words and the ways of Jesus to find out how to live. What did Jesus say? What did Jesus do? How did he do it? With whom? When? Where? What does he ask us to do? What does he say we will do and be can do? (You might be surprised!) What do you learn about living from Jesus?

But don’t stop with the Bible when learning from Jesus. Jesus certainly didn’t. He talked to God regularly, routinely and listened and acted on what he heard, what he knew from God. We are well served to do the same. God extends that invitation to us throughout the Bible and specifically through Jesus. Jesus says, “When you are praying …” not, “If you pray …” as he teaches us what we have come to call, The Lord’s Prayer, the way we can talk with God. (Matthew 6: 5-15). Prayer is a great aid in knowing how to live, and in living itself. Pastor Wayne has a wonderful series on prayer in this blog. Don’t forget the listening and the learning and the living that go with the praying. Those may be the most neglected parts for me. And don’t forget the lessons from death (Parts 1 & 2)

When I do not listen and learn from the lessons of death, I find myself amusing, distracting and busying myself to death. I find myself, unfocused, drifting, and sometimes propelling myself far from the Kingdom of God rather than mindfully living that minute in the Kingdom. I believe the abundant life is the life lived in the Kingdom and that the life lived in that Kingdom is abundant – not in stuff, not in time, not in constant happiness or perpetual good health. It is abundant in love, in mercy, in peace – abundant in the fruits of the Spirit and daily bread, in forgiveness and deliverance from temptation. It is abundant in God’s Spirit which moves to us, in us, through us, always here and always moving in the freedom of the Kingdom – always here just as the Kingdom is always here, always now, always light, forever, now.

Read Matthew 6: 5-15, and live in the Kingdom of God because God loves you unconditionally. 
Mike

Today’s Reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+6%3A+5-15&version=NRSV