The memory of the righteous
will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot. Proverbs 10:7
Have you ever thought that there are things about you today which you owe to someone who has been dead for ten, twenty, even fifty years? Perhaps someone said something to you that has stuck in your mind ever since. Or you saw someone do something - something kind, something brave - and you have never forgotten it. You are different, you are better, today from what you otherwise would have been - all because of that person.
And it isn't only individual acts or wholesome words that matter; it can also be the whole flavour, if I can use that word, of someone's personality. You only have to think of them and an overwhelming sense of goodness strikes you. Over the years since, you may not realise that you have been doing it, but in fact you have subconsciously been modelling yourself on that person.
"The memory of the righteous will be a blessing", says Proverbs. It's a striking, indeed perhaps a slightly frightening thought: our lives leave a legacy to future generations. "By faith he still speaks, though he is dead," says the writer to the Hebrews (11:4) about - guess who? - Abel. It would be hard to think of a person more distant in time than that!
And do you remember what Jesus said about the woman who extravagantly poured perfume over him at the meal table (Mark 14)? "Why do you bother her? She has done a beautiful thing to me... I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." That prophecy of Jesus is coming true for the multi-millionth time at this very moment, just by virtue of the fact that I am writing these words and you are reading them.
All this raises a very obvious question. What legacy am I leaving? How will I be remembered?
Perhaps you teach a Sunday School class. Have you ever reflected that that little group of children you meet with for half an hour on a Sunday morning will be soaking up not only your words, but also your whole manner and personality - what I might call the very "you-ness" of you? Perhaps you run across a neighbour on a regular basis. You don't really know them personally, but you greet them and try to be a Christlike presence in their lives. Who knows what kind of impact that will have?
Of course I hope it goes without saying that we don't aim to act, speak and live well because we want to be remembered in this kind of way; we're not talking here about "cultivating an image" (horrible expression!). Oh no, we do it simply because it is good and right - ultimately out of love for God. But the fact that we will be remembered can be a powerful additional incentive.
As often in Proverbs the second line of the verse turns everything round: "... but the name (that is, the reputation, the memory) of the wicked will rot". Bluntly put! Perhaps that's something to ponder as well: will anyone, in years to come, have cause to regret they ever met me? Someone I cheated, or lied to, or bullied, or abused, or exploited? Remember Mark 9:42... Whose life is ever enriched by someone who was corrupt, mean-spirited, dishonest, selfish or whatever?
The Message translation of the Bible puts the whole verse like this: "A good and honest life is a blessed memorial; a wicked life leaves a rotten stench". Perhaps it's time to stop, to close our eyes, and to reflect: Yes, what kind of person am I? How am I seen by others? And, most of all, how will I be remembered? What, if I can put it this way, might honestly be carved on my gravestone?
Have you ever thought that there are things about you today which you owe to someone who has been dead for ten, twenty, even fifty years? Perhaps someone said something to you that has stuck in your mind ever since. Or you saw someone do something - something kind, something brave - and you have never forgotten it. You are different, you are better, today from what you otherwise would have been - all because of that person.
And it isn't only individual acts or wholesome words that matter; it can also be the whole flavour, if I can use that word, of someone's personality. You only have to think of them and an overwhelming sense of goodness strikes you. Over the years since, you may not realise that you have been doing it, but in fact you have subconsciously been modelling yourself on that person.
"The memory of the righteous will be a blessing", says Proverbs. It's a striking, indeed perhaps a slightly frightening thought: our lives leave a legacy to future generations. "By faith he still speaks, though he is dead," says the writer to the Hebrews (11:4) about - guess who? - Abel. It would be hard to think of a person more distant in time than that!
And do you remember what Jesus said about the woman who extravagantly poured perfume over him at the meal table (Mark 14)? "Why do you bother her? She has done a beautiful thing to me... I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." That prophecy of Jesus is coming true for the multi-millionth time at this very moment, just by virtue of the fact that I am writing these words and you are reading them.
All this raises a very obvious question. What legacy am I leaving? How will I be remembered?
Perhaps you teach a Sunday School class. Have you ever reflected that that little group of children you meet with for half an hour on a Sunday morning will be soaking up not only your words, but also your whole manner and personality - what I might call the very "you-ness" of you? Perhaps you run across a neighbour on a regular basis. You don't really know them personally, but you greet them and try to be a Christlike presence in their lives. Who knows what kind of impact that will have?
Of course I hope it goes without saying that we don't aim to act, speak and live well because we want to be remembered in this kind of way; we're not talking here about "cultivating an image" (horrible expression!). Oh no, we do it simply because it is good and right - ultimately out of love for God. But the fact that we will be remembered can be a powerful additional incentive.
As often in Proverbs the second line of the verse turns everything round: "... but the name (that is, the reputation, the memory) of the wicked will rot". Bluntly put! Perhaps that's something to ponder as well: will anyone, in years to come, have cause to regret they ever met me? Someone I cheated, or lied to, or bullied, or abused, or exploited? Remember Mark 9:42... Whose life is ever enriched by someone who was corrupt, mean-spirited, dishonest, selfish or whatever?
The Message translation of the Bible puts the whole verse like this: "A good and honest life is a blessed memorial; a wicked life leaves a rotten stench". Perhaps it's time to stop, to close our eyes, and to reflect: Yes, what kind of person am I? How am I seen by others? And, most of all, how will I be remembered? What, if I can put it this way, might honestly be carved on my gravestone?
Lord God, thank you for the Christlike people who have helped to mould and shape me, probably never even realising what they were doing. Help me, by your grace, to follow in their footsteps. Amen.
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