John 12:24 -26

Nathan Scott once said, “It is the oldest story in the world. One day you’re seventeen and planning for someday. And then quietly, without you ever noticing, that someday is today. And the someday becomes yesterday. And this is our life.”

The Gospel reminds us that life is short, swift, and uncertain. In the end, we are all going to come face to face with death. The fact still remains that everyone who comes to this world will eventually leave this world – ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

While many of us may fear death, it is still one of the greatest teachers in life. Three of which are as follows:

1. All things are passing. In this life we are all consumed by everyday life. Perhaps we are consumed about money, how to earn it, how to save it, and how to spend it. Yet death reminds us that we came into this world with nothing and we are leaving this world with nothing. Hopefully, we are reminded of the proper role of money and material things in life.
2. What is most important in life? Remember in this life there is the seen and the unseen, there is the spiritual and the material, there are things that can be counted and there are things that cannot be counted. Someone once said that the things that really matter in life are the things that cannot be counted like forgiveness, friendship, love, hope, faith, generosity, and kindness.
3. There is life eternal. Sadly, many people forget this reality. We set aside the fact that we are going to give the Lord an accounting of what we did with our lives. Was I a good steward of the things that were only lent to me – time, talent, and treasure? 

That is why in this life we must always think eternal. This can only happen with death, but we must be reminded that before we leave this world, there are many deaths that we have to face:

• Death to oneself, if only to bless other people’s lives
• Death to sin, if only to live a virtuous life
• Death to anger, if only to be able to forgive
• Death to accumulating material things, if only to be able to share to those who less in life. 
• Death to holding on to people, if only for us to Let go and trust God.

In other words,  it is in dying that we born into eternal life.