terminus

Man in his pomp will not remain;

he is like the beasts that perish.

Psalm 49:12

We pretend we are big deals. We create celebrity and nearly worship it. We dress everything up for appeal and “success”. We give our applause to other people, hand out awards, ceremonialize our leaders, and talk about the pageantry and pride we put on display as if it will last forever.

This could be a televised award ceremony. This could be a Super Bowl. This could be about people chasing a ball. This could be about people chasing dollars. This could be about people chasing applause. This could be about people chasing “likes”. This could be about people chasing votes. We live in a vain world, we are vain people, and we think falsely that human praise enshrines us forever. 

All this pomp does not change the reality that every person faces: we all die like dogs. Mortality is the great leveler. Whether your ashes go in an urn, your body in a graveyard, or they build a pyramid around your corpse… you, like everybody else who has ever lived, will end up dead. They can freeze your body but you are still quite dead. They can write you up in an encyclopedia of books… still dead. “Man in his pomp will not remain.”

This psalm is a call to consider eternity given our inevitable mortality. We must trust God, Who is greater, to find perspective on our terminus. And the powerful truth is that in Christ we sing a better song about our end… a song that carries the soul into eternity: “But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol; for he will receive me.” Psalm 49:15