God's glory only both in life and death

Michael Jackson died recently. This was a tragedy - at only 50, he had lived larger than life, and died a death that sees the world mourning. Listening to the radio yesterday, every hour was punctuated by a Michael Jackson song. It seems fitting; he was a remarkable talent, one of my favourite musicians even if he was a bit crazy. He tried his best to love the world, but he didn't know that he could not solve all its problems - only Jesus can.

Anyway, all this has made a lot of people in the world sit up a little I think, and think about death. I stumbled upon a blog post by Joshua Harris, referring to a man called Ray Ortlund who died in 2007. I don't really know much about Ray, except that he hung out with Wayne Grudem, a sound theologian in our time.

What Josh posts is a letter Ray wrote to his family, which was opened after he died - find it here. What grips me about it is that Ray lived for the glory of God, not for his own glory. The verse from the bible that he says dictated his life was Psalm 34:3. I like the principles to his family in this simple letter; firstly that they should be aware of sin in their lives and confess it regualrly, and that they should seek God's glory in every way. What a way to live! I wonder if Michael Jackson would have lived longer if he swapped his glory, which was heavy, for God's glory. I have no doubt that his life would have been characterised by more peace if he had. Getting rid of pur pride and looking for God's glory is paramount to peace in life, and rich rich treasures in heaven. I want to live like Ray Ortlund.