Who Writes the Last Line
Jeremiah 30:17 · 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
The Nobel Prize announcements begin today in Stockholm. Over the coming days, people will be recognized for work that has helped the world. Their awards carry medals, diplomas, and prize money.
The original prizes grew from one man’s fortune. Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist and industrialist whose best-known invention was dynamite. On November 27, 1895, he signed his last will in Paris, leaving most of his wealth to fund prizes for work benefiting humankind. He died in December 1896. After years of work to put his wishes into practice, the first prizes were awarded in 1901.
There is a famous story about why he did it. In 1888 his brother Ludvig died in Cannes. As the story goes, a French newspaper confused the brothers and printed Alfred's obituary by mistake. The headline is said to have read, "The merchant of death is dead." Alfred, alive and reading his own death notice, did not like what the world thought of him.
The obituary story is disputed. Historians have not established that the famous headline appeared as described or that reading it caused Nobel to change his will. We should not build certainty on it. But the question it raises stays with me: whose account of a life gets the last word?
This much is true either way. Most of us carry a headline about ourselves. Someone printed it. Maybe a parent said it. Maybe a boss, a former spouse, or a leader in the church. Maybe we wrote it ourselves at three in the morning. Failure. Too much. Not enough. Unwanted.
Today’s reading on taking thoughts captive leaves me with a useful distinction: thinking something does not make it true. Paul writes, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." In 2 Corinthians 10, he is defending his ministry and confronting claims opposed to the knowledge of GOD. Applying that passage to our inner life calls for care. A distressing thought is not, by itself, a failure of faith. We can examine what it claims without treating it as a verdict.
Some of the headlines we carry are about us. The most dangerous ones are about GOD.
Psalm 50 is a courtroom. GOD calls heaven and earth as witnesses. HE challenges worship that treats HIM as dependent on human gifts. Then HE confronts people who speak HIS covenant while practicing deceit and slander: "you thought I was exactly like you." They mistook HIS silence for agreement.
GOD corrects them. "If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it." HE does not need our offerings to feel full. HE calls for thanksgiving, for people to "fulfill your vows to the Most High," and for them to call on HIM in trouble. Their worship is meant to shape how they live.
Thanks, faithfulness, and a cry for help. We can bring our need to GOD while taking responsibility for how we treat one another.
Now look at the headline in Jeremiah. Zion is called an outcast, a place for whom no one cares. The chapter speaks honestly about the people’s sin, judgment, and wounds. Then comes the promise: "But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds," declares the LORD, "because you are called an outcast." Jeremiah 30:17, NIV.
This promise first addresses GOD’s people and their restoration. It is not a timetable for every person’s recovery. But it refuses to let abandonment have the last word. The people others have written off are still held within GOD’s care.
Irenaeus, the second-century bishop of Lyon, draws on Isaiah in today’s reading from Against Heresies. He identifies JESUS as the promised CHRIST, whose judgment reaches beyond appearances and whose mission brings good news and healing to the brokenhearted. JESUS reads past our press clippings, straight to us.
My reading from Kenza Haddock today brings that closer to home: what a person has endured does not have to define the whole of who they are. Naming harm truthfully, seeking support, and keeping safe boundaries can belong to healing too.
Alfred Nobel could rewrite his will, and he did. A fortune can be moved. We can also make amends and change how we live. But grace is not a reputation we purchase or a verdict we manufacture. Yesterday’s Psalm 49 reminded us that wealth cannot ransom a life. Christians place that hope in JESUS CHRIST, who meets us with truth and mercy.
It does leave me thinking about the headlines I have read about myself over the years, and how few of them came from GOD.
When the old headline runs this week, pause and set its claim beside what GOD has said. Give thanks. Call on HIM. Let faithfulness take shape in your next small act.
I am not here to prove myself. I am here to make HIM visible.
🙏 To the one carrying an old headline about themselves, GOD writes the last line.
🙏 To the one who thinks GOD is just a bigger version of the people who hurt them, HE is nothing like them.
🙏 To the one who feels like an outcast this morning, may you know GOD’s care and find people who will walk beside you.
🙏 To the one in the day of trouble, call on HIM, and give thanks while you wait.
Grace and Peace.
Sources: Nobel Prize announcement dates; Alfred Nobel; History of the prizes; The disputed obituary story; Jeremiah 30:12–17, NIV; 2 Corinthians 10:1–6, NIV; Psalm 50, NIV; Irenaeus, Against Heresies III.9. The reading-plan reflections come from the author’s supplied account. Scripture quotations: New International Version (NIV).