What do you’re thinking that people will say about you after you die? The way you desire to be remembered, but what people actually say could also be two various things. This is why the best way we live matters. Several years ago, I led a gaggle of twenty-one from my church to go to Cairo, Egypt. The week was full of all the pieces you may expect when visiting such a mysterious and enchanting land. We visited the pyramids and rode camels, but we also served in orphanages, prisons, and refugee camps. We sailed down the Nile River but additionally ministered at a global missions conference.
My favorite experience of that trip was the day we toured the Cairo museum. We, Americans, were amazed at real-life mummies (well, you understand what I mean). Inside the museum was the famous King Tut’s exhibit. The wealth of that young pharaoh couldn’t be overstated. I considered it a life-changing experience until later that afternoon after we found the old American missionaries cemetery in Cairo. We were there to search out the ultimate resting place of missionary William Borden, but what we discovered was everlasting treasure far beyond the worth of the pyramids or King Tut’s exhibit.
I used to be first introduced to the extraordinary lifetime of William Borden a few years ago in my teenage years. He was of the religion to me. William was born right into a wealthy family in 1887. After his senior yr in highschool, his parents gave him, as a graduation gift, a visit around the globe. As he kept encountering Muslims who had never heard the name of Christ, God burdened his heart to change into a missionary. This angered his father, who wanted him to affix the family business. Soon after his father’s premature death, William informed his mother that he needed to meet God’s call on his life as a full-time missionary. He then traveled to Cairo, Egypt, to learn Arabic with a purpose to reach more Muslims. Shortly after arriving in Cairo, he contracted spinal meningitis and died on the young age of twenty-five in 1913.
William died an immensely wealthy man, yet he left every penny of his estate to fund global missions. It was surreal to go away King Tut’s exhibit, also a wealthy man who died young. It was something to have the ability to see all of King Tut’s gold and treasures, yet while you come to the obscure gravesite of William Borden, there is no such thing as a earthly treasure to be found. Why? Because William sent it on ahead. William believed the words of Jesus,
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves don’t break in and steal.” Matthew 6:19-20
Not only did William leave his wealth for missionary advancements, but upon news spreading around the globe of a young man who was willing to pay such a high price to see souls saved, untold numbers of young men and girls felt the decision to take William’s place in reaching the unreached. Should you ever visit William Borden’s resting place within the old a part of the town of Cairo, what you will see inscribed on his tombstone are these words, “Apart from faith in Christ, there is no such thing as a explanation for such a life.”
Walking around that old cemetery felt like sacred ground to me. I read other headstones that inspired my faith. One missionary’s epitaph read, “For forty years, he carried the cross through the Nile valley.” Another missionary’s headstone read, “Hers was faith, hope, and love, but the best of hers was love.” That day marked my life as I used to be only twenty-six years old. Since then, I even have paid closer attention to epitaphs that tell the story of the best way people lived. I would love to share a couple of with you which have impacted me.
Nearly everyone knows the words to the enduring hymn, Amazing Grace, yet few know the person who wrote it or his story. Born in England in 1725, John Newton was a wicked man. He profited greatly from the slave trade industry and would go on to be the captain of a slave trade ship, ripping families apart in Africa to sail them across the ocean to be sold into slavery. Yet God had great plans for John Newton. After becoming a Christian, he left the evils of the slave trade and would go on to change into a pastor for forty-three years until he died in 1807 on the age of eighty-two. Among his last words were, “I used to be a fantastic sinner, but Christ is a fantastic Savior.” Today, his epitaph still reads of a life well lived, “John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the wealthy mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to evangelise the religion he had long labored to destroy.”
Another epitaph that has left a mark on my life is that of the revivalist Leonard Ravenhill. He was born in England in 1907 and died in America in 1994. Ravenhill wrote the classic book, “Why Revival Tarries.” It is considered one of my all-time favorite books. He was a powerful voice for real repentance and authentic revival. So full of passion for the Gospel was this man of God that even his tombstone echoes the conviction with which he lived, “Are the belongings you live for value Christ dying for?”
Billy and Ruth Graham were great gifts to the body of Christ. They were under no circumstances perfect, but their lives mirrored the Gospel they proclaimed. Today, they’re buried on the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. I’ll always remember the primary time I visited the library and saw their headstones. Ruth, who died in 2007, had specific requests for her epitaph. She once drove through roadwork and saw an indication that read, “End of construction. Thank you in your patience.” She thought to herself, how does that describe life? Ruth’s epitaph was insightful, but Billy’s was profoundly easy, “Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Being a preacher of the Gospel is what defined Billy’s life, not his quite a few accomplishments or accolades. A reporter once asked Billy if he would consider running for the presidency of the United States. His answer was that he would should take a step down from ministry to change into president. That makes me happy with him and the gospel he so faithfully preached.
I can remember watching on television when Hollywood gave Billy Graham his own star on the Walk of Fame. He had previously turned down the offer, yet in his acceptance speech, he shared what modified his mind. I remember him saying that long after Billy Graham has left this world, perhaps a young boy or girl will ask their parents, “Who was Billy Graham?” Perhaps their parents will say, “He was a preacher of the Gospel.” Perhaps the boy or girl will ask, “What is the Gospel?” And which will make them Christ. He and Ruth lived faithful lives, at all times with eternity in view.
It was missionary C.T. Studd, who died in 1931, who said, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.” The men and girls mentioned in this text understood this. Though they were each sinful and deeply flawed, they were also saved and redeemed. So it’s with you and I if we’re born again. This means each of us has the chance to live well and be pleasing to God. In the numerous years of being a pastor, I even have preached quite a few funerals. I even have never had a family ask me to share their loved one’s income level, assets, or what their retirement grew to. It is because those things don’t matter ultimately. Jesus taught, “…for one’s life doesn’t consist within the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). The query has been asked, “Why are the streets of Heaven paved with gold?” I once heard a smart pastor answer that it’s because “What is the most respected thing on earth is the least worthwhile thing in Heaven.” What a perspective!
While there isn’t a gravesite for the Apostle Paul, he still left us an epitaph for the ages. “I even have fought the great fight, I even have finished the race, I even have kept the religion” (2 Timothy 4:7). What will your life be known for?
Photo Credit: Image created using AI technology
Chad’s pastoral profession has not been defined by blindness. Rather, it’s his clear, biblical teaching that continues to grow an audience. He has traveled through forty nations, training pastors and strengthening churches.
Today, Chad teaches people to trust a God they can’t see. His days are full of the things he loves most: leading, speaking, writing, and after all, coffee! He is a spiritual content creator. By God’s grace, he’s emerging as a trusted spiritual voice in people’s lives. Chad can have blindness, but blindness doesn’t have him.
