I’ve got death on my mind

When tragedies occur, such as some one dying from a heart attack or a serious injury from a car crash or we hear of a huge weather phenomenon that wipes out thousands of people, we often turn our attention to death. We think about eternity and what will happen when we die. We are reminded of the fragility of human life and thus are thankful that we are still alive. Many deep feelings and thoughts that we do not often have, overtake us. I even recently have such thoughts when a dear 17-year-old friend went into cardiac arrest.

Calvin speaks of these type of thoughts. He says that God has made things on this earth to teach us that “human life is nothing but a vapor or shadow.” But then he says:

“But there is scarcely anything which we more carelessly consider or sooner banish from our memory; for we go about everything as if we want to make ourselves immortal.

If we watch a funeral or walk among the graves (or see a friend laying lifeless in a hospital bed), and thus clearly see the image of death before our eyes, we philosophize, I confess, about the vanity of life.

And even that does not happen every day, for often we are not moved at all.

But when we are, our philosophy is only short-lived; it vanishes as soon as we go away and does not leave the smallest trace behind.

It passes out of existence like the applause for an entertaining program.

We not only forget death, but the fact that we are mortals, as if no word concerning this has ever reached us, and we continue our foolish dream that we are to live forever.

If any man in the meantime reminds us of the proverb that man is only a creature of the day, we are willing to acknowledge this truth, but with such lack of attention that the idea of perpetual life keeps on lingering in our minds.

Who, then, can deny that we need to be warned not only by words, but that we should be convinced by every possible evidence that the present life is full of miseries!

For even if after we have become convinced of this, we hardly know how to stop our perverse and foolish admiration of it, as if life were nothing but one great accumulation of blessings.

But if it is necessary for us to be taught by God, it certainly is also our duty to listen to him when he speaks and arouses us from our sluggishness, that we may turn our backs upon this world and and try to meditate with all our heart on the life to come.

Calvin’s comments are incredibly insightful. He is basically saying that we may think about the brevity of life during certain situations, but as a whole we live as if we will live forever. I daily need to be reminded and taught about the empty, passing world that I live in because I am far too fascinated with it. May God continue to pull His bride’s affections heavenward.