In Remembrance
In Remembrance
I don't want the world to remember me.
My thoughts and actions used to be that I wanted the world to remember me for something great. I wanted to leave my mark on this world for generations to come. I wanted people, when they heard my name, to think "Wow, now that was a great man! Do you know what he did?!" and then they'd go on to tell stories from my life. However, I've come to realize that I have had the wrong approach. I've realized that this approach to life is selfish, it's shortsighted, it's missing the point to life as a whole. It's dismissing my call as a disciple of Christ (Matt.5:13-16).
Escaping the trappings of sins that used to own us can give us a clarity of mind like we've never known before. Certain sins used to rule my life, they used to destroy me daily, they'd keep me chained down and enslaved. I was held captive in a prison of my own making until one day I hit bottom, I had nowhere to look but around at the mess I had made of my life, I saw my future self in the people who surrounded me and I didn't like the reality of my choices, and the only people who cared for me in that state were my brethren. My fellow Christians were the only ones I could call, they were the only ones who cared for my soul, the place I looked when my sins brought me low was up to my God and a humility like I'd never known before hit me like a ton of bricks. Verses I had known all my life, but failed to keep, flooded back to my mind; the words to the hymns "This World Is Not My Home" and "Be With Me Lord" were on infinite repeat in my mind; my prayers to God were raw, humble, and honest. My thoughts, in the lowest moment of my life, were not about me, they weren't about my legacy, they weren't about all the stuff I had accrued, they weren't about what my memory would be amongst those in this life. No, my thoughts were about my soul, about my Lord, about my Savior there on the cross, about my brethren, about my eternal soul and the changes I had to make to leave the life I was living.
I look back on those moments of such clarity and I realize my life is about living righteously and leading others to Christ; my goal is not for others to remember me, but rather remember God's word which I lived and to then follow in that same pattern (1Cor.11:1). I want the world, when they hear my name or think of me, to be led to God's word; I want them to think of the blessings only found in Christ, the blessings which I enjoyed because I was obedient to His word; I want the light of the reflection I cast to be followed back to its source, to Jesus Christ, and for others to walk in His footsteps.
So, no, I don't want to be remembered. I would rather that memories of me and my life here be a spring board for others to discuss God's word, to discuss Jesus Christ, to cause others to think about their own eternal home. I want the memories of my life, what I did, what I overcame, the caliber of Christian I was, what I said, what I wrote, how I treated others, my relationships, etc. to be so ordinary that it's not surprising. Ordinary in the sense that I just did what God expected of me: I served Him completely, I did as He commanded, I was an "unprofitable servant" who just did what was my duty to do (Lk.17:5-10). At the end of my days I want my life to be summed up as, "He was a Christian."
I only want to be remembered by God for good, that is my goal to life. May we all seek to glorify God, wherever we are, by the way in which we choose to live, think, speak. Let the memories others have of us be so that they glorify God, not us, whether we be alive or long gone from this earth; to God be the glory (Phil.1:9-11).
May our prayer be likened to that of Nehemiah:
I don't want the world to remember me.
My thoughts and actions used to be that I wanted the world to remember me for something great. I wanted to leave my mark on this world for generations to come. I wanted people, when they heard my name, to think "Wow, now that was a great man! Do you know what he did?!" and then they'd go on to tell stories from my life. However, I've come to realize that I have had the wrong approach. I've realized that this approach to life is selfish, it's shortsighted, it's missing the point to life as a whole. It's dismissing my call as a disciple of Christ (Matt.5:13-16).
Escaping the trappings of sins that used to own us can give us a clarity of mind like we've never known before. Certain sins used to rule my life, they used to destroy me daily, they'd keep me chained down and enslaved. I was held captive in a prison of my own making until one day I hit bottom, I had nowhere to look but around at the mess I had made of my life, I saw my future self in the people who surrounded me and I didn't like the reality of my choices, and the only people who cared for me in that state were my brethren. My fellow Christians were the only ones I could call, they were the only ones who cared for my soul, the place I looked when my sins brought me low was up to my God and a humility like I'd never known before hit me like a ton of bricks. Verses I had known all my life, but failed to keep, flooded back to my mind; the words to the hymns "This World Is Not My Home" and "Be With Me Lord" were on infinite repeat in my mind; my prayers to God were raw, humble, and honest. My thoughts, in the lowest moment of my life, were not about me, they weren't about my legacy, they weren't about all the stuff I had accrued, they weren't about what my memory would be amongst those in this life. No, my thoughts were about my soul, about my Lord, about my Savior there on the cross, about my brethren, about my eternal soul and the changes I had to make to leave the life I was living.
I look back on those moments of such clarity and I realize my life is about living righteously and leading others to Christ; my goal is not for others to remember me, but rather remember God's word which I lived and to then follow in that same pattern (1Cor.11:1). I want the world, when they hear my name or think of me, to be led to God's word; I want them to think of the blessings only found in Christ, the blessings which I enjoyed because I was obedient to His word; I want the light of the reflection I cast to be followed back to its source, to Jesus Christ, and for others to walk in His footsteps.
So, no, I don't want to be remembered. I would rather that memories of me and my life here be a spring board for others to discuss God's word, to discuss Jesus Christ, to cause others to think about their own eternal home. I want the memories of my life, what I did, what I overcame, the caliber of Christian I was, what I said, what I wrote, how I treated others, my relationships, etc. to be so ordinary that it's not surprising. Ordinary in the sense that I just did what God expected of me: I served Him completely, I did as He commanded, I was an "unprofitable servant" who just did what was my duty to do (Lk.17:5-10). At the end of my days I want my life to be summed up as, "He was a Christian."
I only want to be remembered by God for good, that is my goal to life. May we all seek to glorify God, wherever we are, by the way in which we choose to live, think, speak. Let the memories others have of us be so that they glorify God, not us, whether we be alive or long gone from this earth; to God be the glory (Phil.1:9-11).
May our prayer be likened to that of Nehemiah:
"Remember me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done..." Nehemiah 5:19 NKJV
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