Final Words

My husband and I made our funeral arrangements months ago. Choosing my own coffin was easier than I thought it would be, but I’m still agonizing over which songs I’d like played and/or sung during my service. Why, you ask, is that so difficult? I want the words in the songs to serve as my final words to my loved ones. Thus, it's hard to choose only a few out of all the many songs I love.

One day when I was struggling to decide, I read the last few chapters in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, which contain Moses’ parting words to the children of God whom he had led for more than 40 years. With the people assembled near the border of the land God had promised to give them, Moses reminded them of what God had commanded them to do when they entered it.       

Then Moses said, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land…” (Deuteronomy 32:46-47, ESV, emphasis added).

Like Moses, I want my final words to urge others to know God better, to love Him even more, and to faithfully obey Him. I trust that the Scripture-based songs I select will do just that.