What Will People Say About You At Your Funeral?

Y ou’ve been to funerals and heard all the eulogies, but what will people say about you at your funeral?

The Funeral Eulogy

What would people say about you after you died? Would they say, “She was really a good cook” or “He was one of the best mechanics I knew” or “She really had a nice home,” or “He was always helping someone. He shared Christ with a lot of people,” or “All he ever talked about was Jesus!” What would people say at your funeral? The question is: Is Jesus really most precious to you? Will you hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt 25:23). One man asked his neighbor, “Which is the alpha male, or the dominant dog in your house?” The neighbor said, “The one I feed the most.” Which do you feed on the most? Is it on the Word of God or the passing pleasures of this world? Whichever is fed the most will be the most dominant. And by the way, I ask myself the same questions. The Apostle Paul wrote that “the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives” (1 Tim 5:6).

Hungering for Christ

Most of the Christians I know love to learn God’s Word and they feel a very strong need to read the Bible. To me, having a hunger and thirst for the Word of God is a strong indication that the Holy Spirit is actively working in that person’s life, so if someone only reads the Bible at church, they’re starving all week. They’re not partaking of the Bread of Life. Who can get by with one meal a week, and yet the last report said that believers spend about 14 minutes a week reading the Bible. That convicted me. That’s a true famine of the Word! If that’s the case, then it’s a good idea to examine ourselves to see if we’re really in the faith, or we’re just playing church. If not, we are disqualified (2nd Cor 13:5)! Jesus warned the lukewarm church that He may vomit them out of His mouth if they don’t repent (Rev 3:16). In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matt. 5:6). David had this intense hunger and thirst for God. Do we? He wrote, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). Can people say that about us at our funeral? Do we spend more time on Facebook than having our face in The Book!? ^[2]

Where is your Heart?

We have been given many resources in this world. Most Americans have been blessed above and beyond the vast majority of the world. In comparison to the world’s population, we are truly rich. If we have food for at least the next day, if we have sustenance in our cabinets for a few days, if we have heat in the winter and AC in the summer, if we have a roof over our heads, and we have more than a few dollars in our wallets, we are richer than 94% of the world. Even with all these blessings, Christians give only 2.5% of their income to support their local churches or ministries. Only 1% of believers support Christian programs that they regularly listen to. Most spend 5 times that amount on their pets. Remember Jesus’ sobering words: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34). After you and I are gone, will people remember us as misers? Then, what good will our money be?

Where is the Treasure?

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Your credit card statements and checkbook ledgers will reveal where your true treasure is. Jesus’ statement below indicates that humans tend to store up possessions or wealth because they find their security in them, but Jesus warned, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matt 6:19-24).

Our Lasting Impression

Our true priority should be seeking Christ and His righteousness. That must be above all else, because if we do seek Him and His righteousness first, we will have all we need (Matt 6:33). That means we’ll have no reason to worry about tomorrow. Will they say at our funeral, “He/she was a very generous person,” or will they remember that we never gave much of anything, even our time, to the commanded work of Christ (Matt 25:35-36; 28:18-20). What will they say about us after we’re gone?

Loving Others

Surely a Christian cannot claim to be saved and yet hate his brother or sister. The Apostle John writes about the evidence that a believer is indeed born again. In 1 John 2:9-11, he writes, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.” No one can hate their brother or sister in Christ and yet claim to be a follower of Christ. Jesus said that love is what points out to everyone who is and who isn’t a believer. In John 13:34-35, He says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

God is Love 

Two small but significant words are, “by this,” which indicates, by your love for one another, everyone will know that you are His disciples. How? “If you love one another!” This is how everyone, believers and non-believers, will know that we belong to Christ. Will people say that about us after we’re gone? God calls anyone a liar if they claim to be a believer and yet hate their brother or sister. John writes, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? This commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 1:20-21). ^[4]

Summary

What will people say at our funeral? Will they say that Jesus was clearly the most precious thing to us? Will they say we had a real hunger for the Word of God and for the people of God? Are we building a nest for this world, or sowing seeds into the kingdom and storing up treasure in heaven? And, do we have love for others? We are to love one another just as Christ loved us. What will they say was the most important thing in our life at our funeral? Is it obvious to everyone? Ask your family and friends what they will most remember you for. That might tell you a lot. Of course, it really matters what others think. It’s what Jesus thinks, and if we’ve trusted in Him, we are secure in Him. Of course that doesn’t get us off the hook for laboring in love for His glory, and doing it as unto Him (Matt 25:40)!

Conclusion

I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.

Here is some related reading for you: Who Are the Disciples of Christ? ^[5]

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.