WHAT inscription would you like putting on your tombstone? Perhaps you never thought of it. Then if unconverted let me advise you to do so now. It will not be wasted time; for how soon you may need one none can say.
You have seen many tombstone inscriptions, some true and some false, but the important question asked by King David at the grave of Saul's general might fittingly be asked at every graveside in the world, whether a marble monument is erected to the memory of the dead or no monument at all.
“Died [Abner] as a fool dieth?" Abner was tricked into destruction. David, the one against whom he had been fighting, was willing to honor and bless him. But Abner turned aside to listen to the words of Joab, who professed peaceable intentions, but plotted destruction. Thus lost Abner his life, and died the death of a fool.
Beware, my reader, of turning aside to listen to the voice of the enemy. He chants "Peace, peace," when there is no peace, and seeks to make you happy and contented, to go on without the peace that God gives to all that accept salvation through His Son.
Is this what the enemy has been doing? Then you are being drawn aside into the same snare as Abner of old, and sooner or later the sword of destruction will as certainly smite you as it pierced him. Then in eternity, if not in time, this inscription will be placed at the end of those dark and guilty pages of your life's history: "Died as a fool dieth!" What an end I Friend, this evil stands ahead of you, and if you would be recognized in heaven as a "prudent man," open your eyes to see this evil and hide yourself, lest, like "the simple," you pass on and are punished (Prov. 27:1212A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished. (Proverbs 27:12)).
Thank God, there is a hiding place where guilty sinners can repair, and find present salvation, solid peace, and eternal security. But this can be found alone in Christ the Lord. I read, "A man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest" (Isa. 32:22And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. (Isaiah 32:2)). Thank God, then, for this, my reader, and flee for safety now to Jesus. Be assured His precious blood can cleanse. He will receive. God will pardon. He is satisfied with Jesus. In Him justification is proclaimed to all that believe (Acts 13:3939And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39)). But beware of dying as a fool dieth. J. T. M.