Tending a Grave

As I was considering this post, I was trying to recall if I have ever been to a cemetery. I believe the answer is yes, because I have a hazy memory of visiting one as a child. I don't remember who we were visiting there, however. I do know when I lived in Peru I went to one, accompanying my mother-in-law. But it didn't look like this picture. There was no grass, and the graves weren't in the ground, but rather in a cement crypt of sorts. 

I have never attended a burial. A few funeral and remembrance services, but not a burial. I wonder if that's unusual or if most people would say the same.

I got to think about this because of a song currently playing on Christian radio called, "Made for More" by Josh Baldwin. I enjoy this song and find myself often singing along. There is one line in particular which has always caught my attention. The line says, "I wasn’t made for tending a grave… I was made for more."

I've thought about that line a lot. What does it mean to "tend to a grave"?

Cemeteries often have grave tenders or maintenance workers who care for the upkeep of gravesites. They pull weeds and mow the lawn and keep away critters or those who might try to desecrate the site. In smaller community cemeteries, the grave tenders may even know the mourners who come to visit or place flowers by the headstones, and greet them by name.

Of course, there are also mourners who take it upon themselves to come and tend the graves of their loved ones. But I suspect the song is not referring to them.

I think the song is referring to those of us tending our own grave. Spending time in the cemetery, making a gravesite look beautiful, in order to one day lay in it.

Isn't that a stunning visual?

As a metaphor, it's powerful. If this life is all there is, if there is nothing after, then tending a grave might be logical. That's where our bodies will rest, after all, at least until they decompose. We want to make it look pretty so we look important. We want to add achievements and accolades to put on our tombstone.  We throw money and possessions in there as though we can take them with us. Everything we focus on is the right now, the right here, the temporary and fleeting.

There's a common joke I've heard repeatedly in churches and across social media which states, "You will never see a U-Haul behind a hearse." We know this on some level, and yet, we still pour into things that won't matter after we die. We can't take it with us, and it will all eventually turn to dust. In a few generations, no one will even remember our names.

What struck me about this today, is it is not just non-Christians who waste time tending their graves.

Christians do this, too.

We get so caught up in the things of this world we forget we are meant to be in the world but not of it (John 17:16). We aren't meant to waste our lives tending our graves - Jesus has saved us from the grave! Even He only spent three days in His.

Paul wrote in Colossians 3:1 to fix our eyes on things above. Only two things will last forever: God and people. That's it. Everything else will pass away. If we fix our eyes on eternity, all our efforts, our focus, our tending, should be on that which lasts forever: God and people.

Was it perhaps because of this Jesus summarized all the Law in those two commandments? Love God and love others. We make it so complicated when in fact it is quite simple. Love God and love others.

None of the rest of it matters. We may spend our time chasing the accumulation of wealth or achievements, following a political or country affiliation, pursuing popularity, or on leaving a legacy, but in the end... it is all meaningless. It will all return to dust.

Loving God and loving people, that’s it. That’s what we’re supposed to focus on. And we can’t do that if we’re tending our graves. Not only are we wasting our time and energy on things which do not matter, but we are setting a horrible example. If an unbeliever is tending their grave and looks up to see us tending our graves too, what would make them say, I want what they have. We look the same! Only if we are living free from our graves will they see something different and desirable.

The harshest words Jesus had to speak weren't towards nonbelievers but towards God-followers, those who claimed to believe but were spending their time focusing on other things like culture and politics, religion and influence, and positions of power. These were their idols, not too dissimilar from the idols we have today. When our focus is on ourselves and our own goals and ambitions, we fail to live as God calls us to. We fail to be examples. We fail to bring Him the praise He is due.

We were made for more. We shouldn’t be out tending anyone’s grave - certainly not our own. We should be helping to save others from the grave. And we don’t do that through passing strict laws or preaching hate from the pulpit. That's like throwing shovels full of dirt on living people who are lying inside their grave, waiting for death, and thinking somehow this will make it easier for them to climb out. No, if we want to help others, we must show them the way out. And that only happens in love. 

They shall know we are Christians by our love (John 13:35). Peter said to live such good lives that even nonbelievers praise God because of you (2 Peter 2:12).

If nonbelievers were to look at your life, would they see you tending a grave? Or would they see someone set free? Are others praising God because of the life you live?

If not... maybe it's time to put the shovel down.

You were made for more.