August 17, 2018

How Will People Remember You?

And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. – 2 Peter 1:15

If you were to die in car wreck today, what would people say about you? If you were to suffer a fatal heart attack today, what would people remember about you? If today were your last day on this earth, what difference would you have made in the lives of others?

We know that tomorrow isn’t promised. We know that. So why do we live as though we’ve got plenty of days ahead to finally do all those things we’ve planned to do? You know what I’m talking about: vacations and playing with your children, volunteering at the food bank and inviting your elderly neighbor over for a meal and fellowship with your family.

Most of us have good intentions. We do. We’re just so busy. We’re so caught up in the things of this world that we miss what’s ahead. We forget that we’re only here for a short time. We labor for things that won’t last, neglecting eternal things.

Peter is looking toward to what awaits him in heaven. He is asking others to make every effort to increase their faith and to embrace their calling as people of Christ. And to live as people who have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, people who will be welcomed into an eternal kingdom by Jesus.

There was something Bart Millard said in the DVD Bible study on his song I Can Only Imagine that really stayed with me. In talking about his Dad, he noted that he was more a part of Bart’s future than he was of his past.

My age clearly indicates that I’ve got more years behind me than I have in front of me. I am on the downward slide toward heaven. I eagerly look forward to it. But it sure puts today’s struggles, aggravations, and tasks in perspective.

Life becomes less about what I have and more about how I can impact others for Jesus. I ask Him to let my life reflect His light. I want my life to be about Him. Satan, of course, has another plan. This spiritual warfare is real. We all must be vigilant and cling tightly to the One who strengthens us to withstand all enemy attacks.

So, what will people remember about you when you are gone? Will they remember that fancy house or awesome car? Will they remember your career success? For how long? Time has a way of erasing things. Houses become old. Cars lose their luster. And someone else is always waiting to take over your job.

Will they remember that you loved Jesus? Will they remember that you gave generously of both your time and money to help others? Will they remind your children about how kind you were to others?  Will your children tell their children about how you were never too busy to play, to read a story, to talk to them about Jesus?

I will forever remember my Aunt Murl sitting quietly in a chair praying. I remember my cousin Peggy who, tethered to oxygen and too frail to stay alone, continually sought to learn and grow in Christ. I will remember my friend Rose who, though she couldn’t even go outside, still ministered to others with cards and phone calls. I will remember my friend John who always helped me and others, with no expectation of anything in return.

I could go on and on, listing those I have witnessed actually living their faith. It’s so easy to check that Christian box, to attend church on Sunday, to give from your abundance. But those who live Jesus? Well, they’re something special. They don’t need to check a box for others to know who they belong to. They don’t need to preach and judge others. Their lives already tell the gospel.

What will people remember about you? You answer that question every day with how you live your life.

August 3, 2018

Treasure Each Other

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. – Ephesians 2:19-21

We shared memories today, my cousins and I. It’s one of the beautiful things of life when you can join together the past and today with unbreakable bonds that will carry you into the future.

It’s a sad time. The death of someone you love is never easy. Yes, we’ll see him again. But that doesn’t erase the pain of today. So, we remember the past even as we look toward the future of an eternal reunion.

We are all intertwined, these people I love and those who have joined the family through the years. My Dad went to school with the man who would become his cousin’s husband. I grew up down the street from the woman who would become another cousin’s wife. We were joined by blood at birth. We choose to be friends and family as adults.

Our lives are built on faith in Jesus Christ. Our foundation is solid even though the storms of life rock us now and again. We cling to Jesus and each other. A love that has weathered adversity becomes that much stronger.

We forget sometimes just who we are. We get so caught up in life, so comfortable with what we’re doing and what we “know” to be right, that we forget that we are unworthy sinners. We forget about what Jesus did for us.

Oh, we know. We tell ourselves that anyway. But our sin and Jesus’ death on a cross isn’t some vague something that’s mostly about someone else. It’s about us. It’s about what we have done and how He came to save me and you from eternal separation from God.

It’s not surprising that I became reacquainted with these cousins of mine in a church we all attended. We shared laughter and casseroles right along with Bible study and worship. I was blessed. I am still blessed. When the storm came, they stood beside me. Our foundations remained solid. That’s what faith is all about.

When my Dad died, his cousin came with food still hot from the stove. She came to love on Mother and I with hugs and support, stories that brought a tear and a laugh. She came to be there with us because that’s what a family born of God does. They show up. They help. They love and support those who are hurting. Today, I did that for her.

Life changes. Death reminds us that we are meant for someplace else. We are only transients here on earth. That’s something else we forget sometimes. We get so focused on the here and now that we forget nothing we possess on earth goes with us when we make the final journey home.

What remains are the relationships we forge with God’s people. If we are truly fortunate, we share the bond of blood family and spiritual family with the same people. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our lives. We cling to Him, just as we cling to each other.

I hope this day finds you surrounded by people of deep faith, people who share your stories, and people who remain steadfast no matter what life brings. The love shared by fellow believers is a bond that runs deep and true. It’s a gift from God. Treasure it as more valuable than gold because, as time often proves, it is.

May 7, 2018

What Will People Remember?

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

– Revelation 21:4

Sometimes life hurts. It doesn’t make sense. It leaves you with a gaping hole in your heart that you just know will never heal.

Our community lost one of its own in a horrific car wreck in Georgia. She fought it. She did. But she died anyway and nothing will ever be the same.

Some people touch lives. It’s that simple and that complicated. She was an emergency room physician noted for being kind and compassionate. The prayers and comments came from everywhere. She helped a mama tell her baby girl that she had a brain tumor. She told the survivor of a bad wreck that the other person had died. She was on the hard line between life and death so many times. Was she a good doctor? Absolutely! But what people talk about is her heart.

She left behind a husband and young children. They all attended our church. There will be questions. How could there not be? Mamas are supposed to come home to us, not leave for heaven before they have a chance to raise their babies and cuddle their grandbabies.

It’s a reminder for all of us. There’s no guarantee that we will have tomorrow. There’s no guarantee we’ll have the next hour. What really matters? Salvation, obviously. We need to know Jesus, to understand what He did for us, to accept His sacrifice. We need to live with the assurance that death can’t snatch us from Jesus. Death has no claim on us.

But what about those we leave behind? How will they remember us?  What kind of legacy are we leaving behind?

Rarely do we stop and consider that. We’re too focused on ourselves, our families, our immediate needs of the day to think about what people will remember if we’re suddenly gone.

Consider the people who have gone to heaven. When I think of Aunt Murl my mind sees her sitting quietly in a chair as she prayed. She was feisty and outspoken and she loved Jesus with a passion that can only come from deep, deep faith. I think of my cousin Peggy, so soft spoken and kind. She was smart and so very proud of her grandson, the preacher. She never stopped studying the Bible, never stopped learning and asking questions. I loved to spend time with her talking about Jesus. I miss that.

Of course, not all memories are wonderful. Some are filled with people who didn’t live a faith they proclaimed. Other memories are of people forever lost because they refused to believe. There are people who showed up on Sunday because it was expected. They never let a little church slow down their abundant lifestyle. What do we remember about them? How much alcohol they drank? How many times their spouse looked the other way at some “indiscretion?” How much money they made or where they lived? Things of the world pass away. They are not what leave lasting memories and change hearts for the better.

What do you want people to say about you when you are gone? Think about it. Then live your life accordingly.

March 29, 2018

What Will People Remember?

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants.

– Psalm 116:15

I didn’t know her well but I had known her forever. She was my Mother’s first cousin, a voice on the phone and a participant in endless family stories more than someone I spent time with.

In the time leading up to my parents’ deaths, she was a warrior. She opened her heart to my Mother’s cries. She checked on all of us faithfully, then shared the status with her brothers and sisters. They were a close sibling group and had always included my mother in their circle.

She’d turned 93 just a short time ago. She was done, ready to go home and leave this life of suffering. She’d buried her husband and her son. She’d dealt with the loss of her eyesight. Now her back and legs were taking her to a place she just didn’t want to go. She told her daughter to call her siblings.

Days later she was gone, a great hole created where she once stood. Her prayers echo through my mind as I recall her voice. She was just so faithful to show Him to those around her. It’s what I will always remember.

What will others remember about you? Will they even care that you’ve gone on? Are you certain of your destiny? Does your life reflect that?

So many people stand on their lofty pedestal certain of themselves even as they look down on others. They know exactly what to say and when but their lives only reflect their lies and greed, their double standards and their selfishness.

A dear friend mourns the death of her father-in-law even as she deals with the ugliness of the wife he left behind. His wife plays one son against the other, using manipulation to get her way. She considers herself a fine Christian woman. I doubt anyone else views her that way. There is no honor in her actions, no reflection of Jesus in the angry words that blast from her mouth.

We are always quick to judge, aren’t we? Outsiders make pronouncements on what they don’t know, believing lies that have no foundation because it sounds good. Like the man who quotes the Bible but fails to live what he claims to believe.

I never knew my Mother’s cousin to preach the gospel. Her words were peppered with her faith but it wasn’t an outright Biblical lesson. Rather she lived what she believed. She was kind and caring, she was quick to pray and to show mercy and grace. She showed up even when her body wasn’t physically able to do much of anything anymore. She didn’t offer up excuses but rather reached out where she could to minister to those she loved.

That’s what all of us will remember about her. I’ve grown weary of those who claim a faith they don’t live. I’m tired of those who believe themselves blameless – only Jesus can honestly make that claim – and condemn everyone else by standards they don’t live themselves.

I know that Jesus was waiting for this dear woman when she finally made it home. Oh, what a family reunion there was! She was faithful to the end, living her love of Jesus out loud for all of us to see. That’s something we should all strive to achieve.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Give Your Past To God

“Come, let us return to the LORD! He has torn us in pieces; now he will bandage our wounds. In just a short time, he will restore us so we can live in his presence. Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him! Then he will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.” -- Hosea 6:1-3

What is your story? Everybody has one. We each have secrets, things we’d rather other people not know about for fear they’ll think less of us. But we carry that past with us. It makes us who we are today.

I recently learned that a friend has been married five times. I was shocked. Totally. Do I think less of him? Not at all. I see the person he is today -- and the woman he’s lovingly called his wife for 35 years.

He was once a young man searching for a fairy tale life. Oh, he doesn’t call it that. Those are my words. He says he wanted someone to share his life with. He wanted a family and companionship. It took a few rough knocks before he looked up and saw the person meant for him. His wife, too, had endured a bad relationship. But together they make a beautiful whole.

Another young woman still feels insecure about her time in high school. She desperately wanted to be popular and accepted. She was neither but it didn’t stop her from trying to win approval. In so doing, she did some things she’d rather forget. She’s not that person anymore but she can’t seem to shake the memory of who she once was.

One of the beautiful things about God is that we get a do over. No matter what we’ve done or where we’ve been, God still loves us. And He will restore us if we will only seek Him out, ask forgiveness, and change the direction of our lives. Sometimes that is way easier than wiping the memory of past sins from our own minds.

What are you hanging on to? What can’t you forget? What aren’t you trusting God with? Because that’s what it really comes down to: Trusting God. Do we believe that He has really forgiven us? Or do we secretly think that He’s holding a grudge -- called our past sin -- over us as we step into the future?

God isn’t like that. You know that and so do I. He’s willing to put our past behind us and restore us. He says so. Again and again.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences of our actions. Of course there are. That can be a good thing if we use past experiences to learn and grow and to deepen our commitment to God.

God wants an open, honest relationship with us. He wants us to seek Him, to trust Him, to believe what He says. Don’t proclaim your love for God and then turn away, refusing to give Him your darkest moments. Hand them over to God and watch Him restore your life.