Tim Russert, veteran newsman and anchor, died suddenly of a heart attack on June 13 while recording a voiceover for "Meet the Press." Throughout the weekend, a stream of eulogies poured forth from the media, and many programs were devoted entirely to his incredible but shortened life. Only 58, Russert had reached his professional pinnacle of focused but respected interviewer and newscaster. It was achieved, he said, through the strength of hard work arising from family example and encouragement. The impact of Russert’s home life was tenderly chronicled in his famous books honoring his father, "Big Russ and Me" and "Wisdom of Our Fathers." His recurring recollection of his character-molding dad’s stock sentence "What a great country!" is a patriotic milestone.
Russert’s wrenching departure is all the more painful considering he had just returned with his wife and son from a trip abroad, he had recently seen his son graduate from college, and he had placed his aging father in an assisted living facility.
While Tim Russert’s positive public persona and achievements justify the effusive and lingering memorials, let us not forget that on any given day scores of obituaries are found in countless newspapers across the country. It seems that we really stare death in the face only when a prominent person passes away. According to God’s Word, death is inevitable for all of us (unless we are born-again believers who will be caught up in Christ’s coming for His church as I Thessalonians 4:16 & 17 says). A hymn writer once penned, "Each one thinks he’ll be enduring, and then that one becomes the missing face."
The Bible is right, "In Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Corinthians 15:22). Romans 5:12 says, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." In the Garden of Eden, Adam was told, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17).
Ecclesiastes 8:8, describing life on earth, says, "No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, and no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it." The imagery is of soldiers marching in formation in war without discharge, and when God commands, "Halt, one, two!" it’s over.
Proverbs 27:1 warns, "Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth." James 4:13-16 continues the caution, "Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’"
Earlier in his epistle, James spoke of the focused wealthy man who loses it all instantly. "For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits" (James 1:11).
Consummate folly was assigned by Christ to a spiritually indifferent farmer. "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God" (Luke 12:16-21).
An old poem says it well:
The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early hour.
To lose one’s wealth is sad indeed,
To lose one’s health is more,
To lose one’s soul is such a loss
That no man can restore.
The present only is our own,
So Live, Love, toil with a will –
Place no faith in "Tomorrow" –
For the clock may then be still.
The believer’s precious comfort is to know that in Christ, "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord" (II Cor. 5:8). The old Gospel song put it, "When He calls me, I will answer. I’ll be somewhere listening for my name."
Dave Virkler
Russert’s wrenching departure is all the more painful considering he had just returned with his wife and son from a trip abroad, he had recently seen his son graduate from college, and he had placed his aging father in an assisted living facility.
While Tim Russert’s positive public persona and achievements justify the effusive and lingering memorials, let us not forget that on any given day scores of obituaries are found in countless newspapers across the country. It seems that we really stare death in the face only when a prominent person passes away. According to God’s Word, death is inevitable for all of us (unless we are born-again believers who will be caught up in Christ’s coming for His church as I Thessalonians 4:16 & 17 says). A hymn writer once penned, "Each one thinks he’ll be enduring, and then that one becomes the missing face."
The Bible is right, "In Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Corinthians 15:22). Romans 5:12 says, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." In the Garden of Eden, Adam was told, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17).
Ecclesiastes 8:8, describing life on earth, says, "No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, and no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it." The imagery is of soldiers marching in formation in war without discharge, and when God commands, "Halt, one, two!" it’s over.
Proverbs 27:1 warns, "Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth." James 4:13-16 continues the caution, "Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’"
Earlier in his epistle, James spoke of the focused wealthy man who loses it all instantly. "For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits" (James 1:11).
Consummate folly was assigned by Christ to a spiritually indifferent farmer. "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God" (Luke 12:16-21).
An old poem says it well:
The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early hour.
To lose one’s wealth is sad indeed,
To lose one’s health is more,
To lose one’s soul is such a loss
That no man can restore.
The present only is our own,
So Live, Love, toil with a will –
Place no faith in "Tomorrow" –
For the clock may then be still.
The believer’s precious comfort is to know that in Christ, "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord" (II Cor. 5:8). The old Gospel song put it, "When He calls me, I will answer. I’ll be somewhere listening for my name."
Dave Virkler
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