John Keats, a well-known English poet, died of tuberculosis at the age of 25. On his gravestone are these words: “Here lies one whose name was written in water,” reflecting on the transient nature of human existence and the fleeting impact of our accomplishments. His epitaph emphasizes the idea that life and legacy can be fleeting, much like writing on water.
There is no permanent record.
Strong’s Concordance was written by James Strong, and it took him and his research team thirty-five years to finish. It was first published in 1890, to create an exhaustive index of every single word in the King James Version of the Bible and link them back to their original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek root words with a unique numbering system. Today a computer program can produce the same information in a matter of seconds.
We are all writing in water — our life stories and all our make-believe accomplishments. Two weeks after we are gone, who will remember we were here once? Your life and my life are all written in water!
As one gets close to the end of the seventh decade of life, many things become crystal clear. What truly matters in this brief life? Many things that once seemed very important now seem absolutely frivolous. Those things I lost sleep over, or worried about — what a waste! Why couldn’t I see through that person, or that difficult situation, for what it was? There is a line from the old movie Gone with the Wind that makes perfect sense at this age: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
I know whom I have believed, and I am absolutely certain my God is able to guard my soul, which I have entrusted to Him for that day (2 Timothy 1:12). When Peter looked back on his life — his highs, his lows, especially that time he told the servant girls, “I don’t even know that man” — he saw that the love of God toward him was far deeper than all his failures. That is why he could later say, “Cast all your anxieties on Jesus; He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, “cares for me”! My vocabulary is far too limited to expound on those four words.
I grew up in a land dominated by Hindus — most of them Hindu in name only — who truly believe all that reincarnation teaching: a religion that teaches that if you are good, you will come back as an upper-class Brahmin man when you die. The Bible says, “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.” If all Hindus want to come back as upper-class Brahmin men, where would they find wives to marry? They would all be “poof” — gone — in one generation! What a delusional way to live and die.
Now I live in a land where most people call themselves Christians. Jesus said, “I tell you, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak” (Matthew 12:36). The Bible tells us, “We will all have to give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5). If we truly believed those dire warnings, how careful would we be in what we speak or in the life we live, since we call ourselves Christians? If not, are we any different from Hindus who want to reincarnate and hope to come back as upper-class Brahmin men?
Then you hear about a 54-year-old man, at the zenith of his life and career, being told by his doctor, “You have stage four pancreatic cancer, and you are going to die.” He is an American politician and a university president. He represented Nebraska in the United States Senate from 2015 to 2023, and, fed up with all the lying politicians, he resigned to become president of the University of Florida. We now live in a world where truth, honesty, decency, integrity, and sincerity are all long gone — replaced by the worship of politicians. Hatred, lies, deception, and resentment are the new norm. What a breath of fresh air to hear Ben Sasse talk about a life worth living, for as long as God gives each of us life to live!
Ben Sasse was interviewed by Jake Tapper on CNN’s The Whole Story: Ben Sasse Is Going Home — Lessons on Life and Death. He was also interviewed on 60 Minutes on lessons for America; both interviews are available on YouTube.
When you listen to Mr. Sasse, one thing is perfectly clear: his faith is rooted deeply in Jesus Christ, and he knows what matters. He knows all our life stories are written in water, and all our make-believe accomplishments are short-lived.
As you listen to Mr. Sasse, a verse from Daniel comes to mind: “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).
Even as Ben Sasse fights his pancreatic cancer, he is bold enough to teach us that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. There is no other hope for any of us. The world we now inhabit has become like Sodom and Gomorrah, or Noah’s time — filth flows like water; lies, hatred, and conspiracy theories flow from all mass media; and we have all become numb, most of us living and breathing in that sewage of our time. Yet there are people like Ben Sasse who show us there is a better way to live. From the dawn of time until a hundred years ago, people lived and died just fine without being glued to their television, cellphones, and iPads.
However, only those who see the depth of their sin and depravity come to the realization that Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, is our only hope in this world. One may think, “I have all the toys in the world” — but one day those toys, all the fame, glory, and social admiration will be gone, “poof,” so fast. Those who live with a heavenly mind — here to please their Maker, not to be a people-pleaser or an idolater of our time — will find lasting joy. That is a life worth living. If you live to be a God-pleaser, never a people-pleaser, there is joy. They are wise and shine like the brightness of the sky above, and they turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
Freedom from needing people’s approval, and being unconcerned with their disapproval, can be the greatest and most exhilarating experience of life. All the nonsense so prevalent in today’s world may be just modernity; the craving to keep up with modernity will destroy peace and joy in life. Guarding the interior life, and what God thinks of me, is far more important than what anyone else thinks of me.
Dr. Lloyd-Jones said, “If you have lived seven decades of life, the seventh decade should be considered a ‘sabbath decade,’ preparing for heaven with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is the time to disengage from the business of this life, and all the nonsense of this world, and to focus on Jesus Christ, Him crucified, and His living Word. The Bible alone can light up and direct our paths. All things of this world are just a very temporary, ‘this too shall pass’ phase for a true child of God.”
We all know the biggest idols most people worship today: sex, money, and power. Google the names of once God-fearing, great Christian preachers and writers who were true servants of God — now they walk around with hoodies over their heads, not wanting anyone to see them.
Until we learn to be obedient to God’s Word, the Bible, we are living in the darkness of this world. All this craving for people’s praise, worship of politicians, the prosperity gospel, and all fame, glory, and self-promotion are just different names for drugs. Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, alone can give us hope and a future.
At any age, this children’s rhyme is a great reminder of how we must live, regardless of the milestones of our lives:
Oh, be careful, little eyes, what you see, Oh, be careful, little ears, what you hear, Oh, be careful, little tongue, what you say, Oh, be careful, little hands, what you do, Oh, be careful, little feet, where you go, There’s a Father up above looking down in tender love, Oh, be careful, little feet, where you go.
Our grandkids gave us two books: Granny and Grandpa, Tell Us About Your Life. Each asked a number of questions about the details of the lives we had lived. My first reaction was, “No, I don’t want to write all that stuff.” But after the reluctance wore off, and as we began to think through and write about our lives, I must admit I learned a few things I had never given much consideration to. My theology had been, “God helps those who help themselves.” It was up to me to manage my own life. I had always sensed that the prosperity gospel, Christian nationalism, the moral majority, and the worship of politicians were all pure hogwash. Those who are good students, who train for a career in demand, and then work hard and work smart, can make it in any economy. However, that theology has some severe drawbacks.
No matter what we accomplish, when it is over, it feels like dipping our hand in water — it leaves no imprint. Just writing on water.
I had to learn the hard way: God helps those who are helpless, broken, despised, marginalized, and feeble, if and when they seek Him. That is the real theology. When Jesus was on earth, He had plenty of time to talk with a woman despised by society — a Samaritan woman who had been through five marriages. She was done looking for a man to love and cherish her; now she was simply living with a man. Jesus took as much time as she needed to explain to her that He was the Messiah.
And what of the Pharisees — the law-abiding, “I am better than you” crowd — who tried to trick Jesus? They found a woman caught in the act of adultery and brought her before Him to condemn and stone her. Jesus said to those men, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone.” As Jesus looked down and wrote on the sand, those phonies got up and left; the Bible says the oldest left first, then the rest of them. Jesus told the woman, “Go, and sin no more.”
All four Gospels are full of such stories, showing us that our God is an approachable God. His love and forgiveness have no limit; His care for you and me is unfathomable.
The theology that “God helps those who help themselves” is another piece of hogwash that needed to be rid from my mind. Jesus Christ made perfectly clear the rules of His kingdom, and who will belong to it: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”
After all the politician worship, idol worship, and prosperity gospel theology, the appointed day will come for all of us. We all must give an account for our lives. All the long eulogies, all the prayers for the dead, will do nothing. Open the Bible and read: there is no purgatory. God gives each of us a life to live, and God has an appointed day for each one of us. You and I can make up our own rules, or we can live by the rules of the heavenly kingdom. God gives us the freedom to choose. Yet in so many ways, God is always speaking to us about the path we should follow. It all begins with a life based on the greatest and oldest book — the Bible, written two thousand years ago, containing absolute truth, nothing but truth.
As Jesus said, “There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” That is where the real problem begins. When was the last time any of us said to someone, “I am sorry; I should not have said that; I should not have gone there; I should not have done that; I have listened to the wrong people — would you forgive me?”
The Bible makes it absolutely clear: unless you repent, you will not enter the kingdom of God. So many of us choose to live half-hearted Christian lives — mere cultural Christians, just like those Hindus thinking that if they live well, they will come back as high-caste Brahmin men.
The Apostle John gives us the greatest antidote for new beginnings:
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make God out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8–10)
The Moravian missionary from the 1700s, Nikolaus von Zinzendorf, said, “Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.” Although it is a wonderful sentiment, a God-honoring life in front of a watching world is our greatest asset. For me, my father’s life has been an exemplary model.
His faith was costly. The church his family had worshipped in for many generations was not feeding his soul, and he left it. He then joined a church where God’s Word was taught from Genesis to Revelation. That decision cost him his home — he was kicked out and became a homeless man because he chose to follow Jesus Christ.
Although God called him home while I was still in elementary school, my mother was able to fill in all the gaps I missed about his life. My father’s faith journey is my greatest legacy.
Ben Sasse, in his unwavering faith and fearlessness in the face of death, is a great inspiration. “Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten” — such a great sentiment. But seventy years have gone by since God called my father home, and seldom does a day go by that thoughts of my father don’t fill my heart. No, he is not forgotten. I can’t wait to tell him one day how his God heard his prayers and took good care of his nine-year-old boy, the last time he saw me in a hospital bed.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn said this about his life: “I have done many things in my life that conflicted with the great aims I had set for myself, and something has always set me on the true path again.” That hidden hand of Almighty God’s presence I have always sensed in my own life. At times I needed discipline in the most painful ways. If I ever learned anything, it was through some deep sorrows and pain. Seeing my father again in the presence of my Lord and Savior, and telling him how wonderfully God answered his prayers for all the years of my life — how glorious even to think about that!
How could I fear old age, declining health, or even being absent from the body but present with the Lord? I know how this story ends. I have read the last chapter, and it tells me: “God will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshippers, and all liars — their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:4, 8)
Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; I will see Him for myself, my eyes will behold Him and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25–27)
Unless your story is written with the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross, all your fame, glory, wealth, accomplishments, and worship of politicians are all written in water. They are all different forms of drugs, and none of them will ever satisfy you. Two weeks after you are gone, who will remember that you were here once?
God spoke through Jeremiah these words: “I will test you with the measuring line of justice and the plumb line of righteousness. Since your refuge is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it down. Since it is made of deception, a flood will sweep it away.” The Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.”
Those Hindus sitting in front of idols, chanting away, hope to come back as upper-class Brahmin men. Many Christians sit in front of a screen, soaking up all the lies from today’s foul-mouthed politicians and prosperity gospel preachers, who want you to want bigger mansions, more toys, and, of course, praise from others.
For a truly born-again child of God, eternity begins at conversion. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)
A true child of God is united to God — the life of God in the soul of man. A truly Christian marriage and home can be a heavenly experience on earth. A true Christian reflects the life of God in the soul of man in every realm of life.
I must emphasize that it is a progression. The Bible calls it sanctification. No elementary school child can comprehend Einstein’s theory of relativity; likewise, this requires a daily dying to the things of this world and being obedient to God’s living Word.
The psalmist who wrote Psalm 119 understood this. He wrote:
The very essence of Your words is truth; all Your just regulations will stand forever. Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall obey Your instructions and put them into practice with all my heart.