A Good Man: Not Enough

      Today, I sit here in my quiet home.  I like to have my breakfast and devotions at the kitchen table facing the window looking out on the deck with trees of many colors for a background.  It is December in South Carolina which is when the leaves fall to the ground.  This morning the view is full of yellow, orange, brown, and green.  Squirrels jump from branch to branch.  There is a woodpecker on the top branches of the large oak.  Occasionally, a sparrow or finch will perch on the railing of the deck.  Today, it is quiet.  In these quiet moments, I pray for whoever comes to my mind.  And, on this morning, I don't know why, but my mind wonders to two funerals of men who lived for their own pleasure.

     My father's brother was an alcoholic.  After two children, his first wife left him and the children.  The children lived with my grandmother.  Uncle lived a hundred miles away, so we did not see him often.  Then, after ten years, he has a second wife and comes for the children.  He had someone to raise the children.  She was loud and pretty.  Life was not good for my cousins with their daddy.  I wish my father had known how bad life was for them.  I'm confident that he would have rescued them.  I did not know how bad it was myself until one of my cousins shared his life with his father.  This uncle always called my father when he was in trouble.  My father always helped and reminded him that he could have a better life trusting in God.  Then, my father died leaving uncle no one to turn for help.  I'll never forget my uncle's grief at my father's funeral.

     Then, a few years later, I attended my uncle's funeral.  I left work early that day and drove the ninety plus miles to the church.  There were few cars in the parking lot.  In the church were my father's two cousins who went to every funeral.  We called them the weepers.  They did a lot of crying.  My cousins were there with their spouses.  His wife was there and their son.  In total, I remember fifteen people were sitting in the church.  I sat there feeling sad for the life he lived, but the pastor removed my sadness and replaced it with joy.

     As Uncle's health declined, he looked back on his life.  Thankfully, there was a pastor who paid him a visit and listened to Uncle's regrets.  Through sharing scripture, the pastor lead Uncle to receive Christ into his life.  Uncle became a new man and wanted to reach out to all who he had hurt over the years.  As the pastor shared Uncle's story of salvation and his attempts to reach out to apologize to those he hurt, he shared one regret.  Uncle regretted that he did not turn to God earlier when his brother witnessed to him.  He regretted that he could not apologize to his loving and kind brother.  He cried many tears because he had hurt so many through his alcoholism.  Mostly, his tears were because he couldn't let his brother know how sorry he was.  

     Yes, I cried, because my father wanted to see the day his brother turned away from alcohol and a self absorbed life.  My father wanted to see his brother serve God and not the world.  So, I cried tears of joy because Uncle's life ended with his heart turned to Jesus.  I left assured of Uncle's salvation.  There was not a word of how good Uncle was, but simply that he left the world knowing Jesus as his Savoir.

     Unfortunately, a recent funeral for such a man did not have the same message.  This man lived for himself most of his life.  He was a drunk.  He took advantage of many young women over the years leaving a trail of babies.  Because he worked as a highway patrolman, my daughters did not trust any of them.  He had many wives, and he was an abusive husband.  I attended his funeral because people I loved were some of those children.  I'll make this short.  There was no word of his salvation, but almost every sentence included, "he was a good man."  After ten minutes I felt like they were trying to talk him into Heaven to be with his Daddy.  Now, that is another subject but I will not go there here.  I'll simply note that I'm going to Heaven to see my Savoir.  This man came from a large family, and he had some preachers in the family.  The young preacher talked about what a "good man" his cousin was.  A nephew said, "He was my hero."  The uniform was what he admired, but he turned the uniform into "he was a good man."  

     There are plenty of men who are good men, but they don't know Jesus.  I left this funeral wondering if he sincerely believed and accepted Christ into his heart.  I hope he did, because his family believes "he is a good man."  This also reminds me of the words of Peter to the Sanhedrin (Good Men):  Acts 4:8-12

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Salvation comes with repentance of sins, not from being a "Good Man."