We are here today because a life has ended, and we have come to lay that one to rest, to say our final goodbyes, and to achieve some closure on this whole matter.

But as we think of the matter of life and death, I want to pose a question for us to ponder. What is the value of a life?

Is it the medical costs involved with a childbirth?

Is it the cost of a funeral?

Is it a person's net worth at the time of death?

Is it the balance of all these figured together?

Or is it something altogether different?

The value of a life has nothing to do with economics. It has to do with something much more basic and much more important.

I submit to you that the value of a person is calculated not by their contributions to society or to the world, but their relationships to those around them.

The value of a person is measured by how much they loved and how much they were loved. What you would give to have your loved one back can't be measured on any human scale. The love she gave to you and the love you still feel toward her has no numerical value. Her value may be measured by the pain you feel at her absence. Her value may be measured by the many memories you will carry of her for the rest of your life. Can anyone put a price on that? No! That is a value beyond measure.

I encourage you today, carry those fond memories with you always. Savor them. Those memories are more valuable than anything now. Those memories are what make her life a lasting thing.

Her time on earth is over. But think how empty life would have been had she not been here. As long as you live, her memory will live and her life will count. And 200 years from now, your descendants will still measure her value by the fact that they live because she lived.

What is the value of a life? The value is immeasurable. It goes off the scale. Her value is what she meant to you.

But there is another value I would like to discuss. A person's value can be measured by what another would be willing to pay to preserve that life. In other words, what ransom would you be willing to pay to preserve a life?

God paid the life of his son. Jesus paid his own life to preserve yours. He gave His life in order that you might have life. Her life, and yours, was worth His sacrifice.

She accepted that sacrifice and received the life he had to offer.

The Bible says,

We have but one life to live on this earth. After that we move on to eternity. But you decide in this life where you will spend eternity - in heaven with God, or in hell in punishment. What makes the difference is not how nice a person was, or how much a person did, but how they responded to God's invitation to receive life through Jesus Christ.

She made her decision. She accepted Christ as her Savior. What will you do?