The invitation said, “You and a guest are invited to an informative seminar that will change how you view and plan for the future!”

If that subject line turns you toward retirement savings, annuities, and IRAs, think again. This scintillating seminar is offered at a local funeral home as a complimentary lunch event.

You'll forgive the morbid punster in me who came up with a few alternative titles to their lunch-and-learn offer:

• Burn and Urn
• Caskets and Ask-its
• The Grape-ful Dead (assuming fruit is on the lunch menu).

Bad puns aside, these helpful folks want me to “understand my options” and do some “advance planning.” And frankly, they make a great point. Pre-paid funerals take a lot of the hassle out of end-of-life scenarios.

Grief is no friend to sound thinking, and tears seldom clarify the complex financial questions death brings.

Yet there's something far more critical about death than casket choices. It's the spiritual planning you make (or fail to make) before you pass from this life. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:27, "It is appointed unto man once to die—and after this the judgment."

The question is, have you planned for that? My funeral home invitation advises you should “understand your options.” The Bible assures us that there are only two concerning eternity: heaven or hell.

Revelation 20:15 starkly warns, “Whoever’s name was not found written in the Lamb’s book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Is your name in that book? Have you asked Jesus to forgive you of your wrongdoing (sins) and take charge of your life?

At the bottom of my lunch and learn invite is a notice in fine print: "If you have already pre-arranged your services, be assured your information is securely on file."

The same is true spiritually! If you have asked Jesus to be your Savior, you are promised in 1 Peter 1:4 that you have “an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.”

Is that rock-solid assurance "on file" for you? It can be! If you'd like to talk further, email me at jon.gauger@moody.edu.