GONE TOO SOON!!!

Death announcement comes in different forms and formats depending on the types of death. “Call to Glory” “Glorious Exit” “Celebration of Life” “Glorious Translation” etc. are some of the ways people normally announce the departure by death of their loved ones especially those who die at a considerably old age. But when you see “Gone Too Soon” or something related on a death-announcement poster, something immediately rings a bell. Such inscriptions on a death-announcement poster draws the attention of the passers-by more quickly than the others. Such way and manner of expression has more to say than meet the eye. It carries a magnetic pull for a sustained gaze on the poster and the picture on it. It stirs up curiosity as to how it comes to be. It provokes sympathy and makes the heart of the reader laden with sorrowful emotion which many times is usually followed by hot drops of tears.

Gone Too Soon…

Gone Too Soon is the announcement of an unexpected death. An unexpected death is a death people least expect could happen; a death that comes on the wing of great surprise! Gone Too Soon is the announcement of a death that happens many times without warning or in a short space of time. Gone Too Soon is the declaration of the painful exit of an unfulfilled life!

To Be Gone Too Soon…
To be gone too soon is to die suddenly when there are still many years ahead to live. To be gone too soon is to stop half way when there is still a very long way to go. To be gone too soon is to quit when you have not reached the finishing line. To be gone too soon is to throw in the towel when you have not laid hold on the price of your high calling of God in Christ Jesus. To be gone too soon is to die with many graces, gifts and talents unexpressed. Like someone once said, “the richest place on the surface of the earth is the grave yard!” For therein lie buried many great books that should have been written but never were written. In the grave lies buried many dreams and visions that never saw the light of day. At the graveyard lie buried songs that were never given sound to. At the burial ground are many ministries that never found expression and fulfilment in life because the vessels of expressions have gone too soon! To be gone too soon is to become a history in your life time: living in the shadow of the reality; going about with testimony of “When I used to be” while nothing new and serious is really happening in the present. To be Gone too soon is to live the life of a banana plant, its first fruit is also the last fruit; its first appearance is also the last appearance.

Many Have Gone Too Soon…
The scripture is replete with cases of people who are gone too soon. Gehazi was gone too soon. His ministry came to an abrupt end as he tried to make merchandize of the grace of God. He disappeared from the scene without giving expression to his glorious calling. And since he loved the gift of leprosy more than the glory of the prophetic calling, he left nothing behind but generational plague of leprosy! Balaam was another Gone Too Soon. He perished with the wicked and never lived to see what he prayed for: he had earlier prayed to God to die the death of the righteous; but alas! He ended up dying the death of a sinner! He died before his day because he loved the wages of unrighteousness. Absalom was a very promising, handsome, and charming prince who could have made an indelible mark in the land of Israel, but alas! He was gone too soon! He went away suddenly in the prime of his years. He died an abnormal death of a rebel, being rejected by heaven and earth, he died hanging in the space. Pride, arrogance, usurping the authority sent him to an early grave! Judas Iscariot was gone too soon. While the world of the Jew and the Gentiles were waiting to rejoice in the brightness of his shining like the rest of the apostles of Christ among whom he was numbered, the impure love of money became the sudden grave of his untimely death. His place was given to another and his bishopric taken by another. He died without being a partaker of the glorious Pentecost experience; he died without the joy of proclaiming the glorious gospel of the Resurrected Christ. He was gone too soon! Demas also was not left out of the obituary list of the Gone Too Soon. He appeared for a season but suddenly disappeared before he could become something or somebody tangible in the Kingdom of Christ. Like a mirage, he raised the hopes of Paul and the people as a potential apostle but suddenly, he was swept off his feet by the boisterous wind of this present passing world. There are also many contemporary people who have gone too soon…

Living But Gone Too Soon…
There are many people today who are still living but are gone too soon. They started out well but could not hold out well. They are not dead yet but they have become history in their life time. They have become shadows of themselves while still alive. When the world tasted the first fruit of their appearance in ministry, career and purpose, the world had hoped to rejoice for a season in the brightness of their shinning; but alas, they are gone too soon! Though they are alive, yet they have been silenced, and their voices are no longer being heard “on the mountain top of Israel.” And since they have lost their savour; they have consequently become trodden under feet of men as they are neither fit for the land nor the dung hill. Intelligent unbelievers quote them as examples to discourage and quench the zeal of upcoming ministers.

Living but gone too soon are people who have once known the Lord but are now living in backsliding. Worse enough, some have turned apostates! Living but gone too soon are singers who are no longer singing; great writers whose pen have become rusted out of long disuse; preachers who have become entertainers on the pulpit; men and women whose lives and ministries should have brought great deliverances unto men but have been cut down ere the days of their manifestation and showing unto their world. Obviously, the Enemy has done this! But not without a direct or indirect co-operation of his victims…

Don’t Be Gone Too Soon…
There is a statement of purpose over your life meant to be delivered. You are a voice ordained to be heard in the world. Your world is waiting to rejoice in the brightness of your shinning. Should you be gone too soon, you will leave your world groping in perpetual darkness. There is something unique God has packaged within you as solution to your generation. You cannot afford to leave your generation the way you met it. Live to deliver the promise of your life’s purpose.

Don’t be gone too soon, avoid the pitfalls and traps that normally send people to their early grave. Abstain from the love of money which many having placed ahead of purpose, have made a shipwreck of their calling. It is the love of money that has made many to make merchandize of the grace of God. The House of God has been turned to the place of buying and selling. Many things are now available for sales in the house of God. Christian ministers now bargain for honorarium before honouring invitation to minister. Church members are now being exploited in the name of Christ. The love of money has introduced many ungod
ly practices into the church. No wonder the Bible exhorts us to hold faith and good conscience. Many today only hold faith without good conscience. Beware of covetousness. The love of money is the root of all evil. Jesus says the life of a person does not consist in the abundance that he has. Many met their early death in purpose as they began to merchandize the grace and the gifts of God in exchange for money. Don’t make money your priority in life and ministry. Let impact be the focus of your life. Learn to listen to what God would have you do per time. Where God leads, He equally provides.

Don’t be gone too soon, flee fornication, adultery and every form of secrete sexual sins, many great men have been slain by sexual sins. Many lives that should be feeding other lives have themselves been reduced to a piece of bread by the destructive monster of sexual immorality. Don’t be careless in ministry. Set boundary for yourself. Don’t tempt God. You cannot be fondling with the breast of any lady who is not your wife and expect that grace will continue; God forbid. No one takes fire in his bosom and not get burnt. Sexual sin is a devouring fire.

Don’t be gone too soon. Beware of pride and arrogance; they are sure forerunners to a sudden exit. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. God also resist the proud! A proud person cannot last long in the purpose of God. Don’t think yourself highly than you ought to think. There are hierarchy in spirituality. Remember an angel of God was delayed for 21 days by Satan’s angel until an angel of greater strength came to his help. Know the battle you can fight. A Yoruba adage says “jagunjagun to moja ti o mosa ki pe logun.” Don’t send yourself to an early grave by attempting battles beyond your capacity. Beware of boastful statements that reveals pride of heart. “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, arrogance and the evil way, and the forward mouth, do I hate.” Pride sends men to an early grave.

Don’t be gone too soon, avoid the deadly pit of impatience. Impatience cuts a man short before the days of his rising. Don’t show yourself before the actual day of your showing. Don’t be too hasty to be known. Don’t run when God has not sent you. Avoid the Ahimaz’s syndrome. Don’t come out before your appointed time. There is a time the Father has appointed for your placement in purpose. Don’t bribe or coerce your way to the throne. Keep the fire until the flame is strong enough to withstand the contrary wind of obscurity and darkness. Sit down until you are fully made whole. Don’t come out as an undone food; you will do more havoc than good. Wait until God cooks you finish and dress you up fully at His quarry of making for a lasting release in purpose expression. Only the stones made ready at the quarry made it to the site of Solomon’s Temple for permanent glory and relevance. Men of purpose are not made like instant noodles except those that would be gone too soon! Complete your making in the Hand of your Maker.

Don’t be gone too soon, take care of your health. You are a soul having a body. Your spirit man is housed in your body, your spirit needs your body to express himself. The wellness of your body is indispensable for purpose fulfilment. If you have been sick before you know what I’m talking about. There is nothing you can do when the body is down. Include rest into your itinerary. Eat good foods in right proportions. Don’t wait until you are sick before you learn how to eat good food. Don’t be too conscious of work that you neglect the care of your body. If you die the work will continue. Don’t kill yourself before your time.

Don’t Be Despair of Life…
Don’t be despair of life. Jesus does not plead for our sudden untimely removal by death, for to abide in the flesh is needful for others if not profitable for ourselves. He asks that we may be kept from the evil, but He never asks for us to be admitted into the inheritance of the saints in glory till we are full age. Christians often want to die when they have any trouble. Ask them why, and they tell you, “Because we would be with the Lord.” We fear it is not so much because they are longing to be with the Lord, as because they desire to get rid of their troubles; else they would feel the wish to die at other times when not under the pressure of trial. They want to go home, not so much for the Saviour’s company, as to be at rest. Now it is quiet right to desire to depart if we can do it in the same spirit that Paul did, because to be with Christ is far better but the wish to escape from trouble is a selfish one. Rather let your care and wish be to glorify God by your life here as long as He pleases, even though it be in the midst of toil, and conflicts and suffering, and leave Him to say when “it is enough.” 

Don’t be gone too soon. Your sudden exit will only bring an untold pain and sorrow in the heart of God and men. If you leave the stage sooner than expected, the world you are born to impact will be left in the confusion of an unsolved puzzle. Take heed to your spirit. Watch over your soul. Take care of your body.

Hope You Are Not A Gone Too Soon… Examine yourself.

May the Lord preserve you till full age and cause you to finish well in life. May you experience the synchrony of time and task. May you be delivered from unforeseen accidents. May you live to deliver what you are born to be before your exit.
Thanks for reading. God bless you.