Macho Man Randy Savage was my favorite celebrity for years when I was a teenager. He was simply brilliant in his microphone skills and athletic ability. He entertained my teenage brain like no other at that point in my life.
I had posters of him on my wall at home, talked like him when instigating with friends and bullies, and recorded and watched many of his matches over and over again. My friends gave me the nickname from his moniker, Madness, because of how much I loved the guy. I started working out because I wanted to look like him. In 1991 when he lost a Wrestlemania match to the Ultimate Warrior, I cried. When I went off to live in the LSU dorms, I put his poster up on the wall. Yes I was a dork and many would argue nothing has changed. In the late 1990’s I dressed up for him on Halloween night. When cleaning house earlier this year I found hours of his wrestling videos. I can to this day can still watch video and his interviews and laugh and get my blood flowing.
So needless to say he had a huge influence on my life. Obviously the way I look at death BC is light years different than the way I look at death now because my outlook has changed. For example, I was watching the movie Mr. Mom last weekend and I mentioned to my sister-in-law how different of viewpoint I have on that movie now than I did before the birth of my daughter.
One minute we are here on earth, living a great life, spending time with our loved ones, and in a flash we can be gone the next. Randy Savage is a perfect example of that. There are hundreds of questions and huge decisions we will make throughout our lives. Are we going to do our homework tonight, where we want to go to college, where we decide to live after college, what kind of vehicle we will purchase, who we will marry, how many children we will have, where we will re-locate for retirement, etc. These are all huge questions that have that potentially have huge and lasting impacts on our life. Obviously those are all important decisions we must answer for ourselves.
However there is one question that is the most important question we will ever answer. This question is a one question pass/fail exam that we have already answered and our lives demonstrate that answer. This question will not only affect your life here on earth, but your eternity. That question is- do you trust Jesus Christ with your life and salvation? Some believe you enter heaven by being a good person- Strike 1. There is another common answer and that is by believing in God- Strike 2. Believing in God is great but it doesn’t give you salvation. There is only one way through heaven and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said in the gospel of John, Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. - John 14:6. There are two choices, believe Jesus at his word, or believe he is a liar.
A tragic, unexpected death like what we saw of Randy Savage can happen to anybody. The guy was in great shape, had a new and loving wife, and was happier than he had been in years. Nobody expected that last week would be his last week here on Earth as he died at the ripe age of 58 from a car crash. We are not supposed to die before we reach our 70’s or 80’s, but we all know the truth is we can die anytime. But while we all know that so many decide that having a personal relationship with the Lord is not all that important. Death came out of nowhere and it can happen to me or happen to you.
I dedicated last week to the memory of Macho Man Randy Savage by growing a beard for this entire week. I wanted to pay tribute to him for so many years of his entertainment value. The lesson to be learned here from the death of Randy Savage or anybody for that matter that death comes many times when we least expect it. My prayer for you is this- don’t be the guy that has death come unexpectedly without you ever truly coming to Christ. The most important question we will ever answer about ourselves is do we trust Jesus with our life and salvation? If we trust him, we will bear fruit and our works, and life will demonstrate that. If you were to die tomorrow, would you go to heaven? The only correct answer is we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, and we believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved! Once we really believe that, we will be forever transformed both here on earth, and in our future home in heaven. If you haven’t already done so, make that decision for Christ today before a tragedy similar to Randy Savage’s death affects you. Life insurance is important, but do you have something more important- eternity insurance. That eternity insurance unlike life insurance is free as a gift to you and can only be given to us by the grace of our Lord. Make that decision for Christ today before that tragic, unexpected event happens to you.
May the Lord bless you.
