How will You be Remembered?
Paulette Fraticelli
(Prov 10:7 NLT) We have happy memories of the godly, but the name of a wicked person rots away.
Here Solomon contrasts the legacy of the righteous with the short-lived memory of the wicked. I believe the NIV translation of says it plainly, saying, "Good people are remembered long after they are gone, but the wicked are soon forgotten."How do you want to be remembered? Will you be remembered at all? 100 years after your death, will your name still remain? Will the legacy of your works echo through the halls of time? Will the work of your hands leave an indelible mark in heaven's history books? After you are gone, will you be inducted into the Hall of Faith? These are probing questions. They are soul-searching questions. These are the types of questions that make us consider what life is all about and whether or not we are giving our time, energy and effort to the right things. In Proverbs 13 (v.22) Solomon tells us that a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. The inheritance he talks about does include money, but it is not limited to it. The Amplified Bible translation of that text tells us that part of what a good man/woman leaves behind is an inheritance of "Moral stability and goodness."
This reminds me of a message I heard in the past. One of the points brought out in that message was that we should "Father or Mother for Purpose, not for Pleasure." Although our children are our greatest legacy, the focus of our parenting should not be on us, but rather on them. Our focus should be to prepare them for life. Any loving parent wants to bless their children, but we must remember that sometimes we have to make the hard decisions, even when the outcome will not be pleasing to our kids. If all we focus on is their pleasure, we might fail to prepare them for their purpose.
A Father/Mother must do more than just have children. He raises his children to become mature adults. It is a painful, costly, time consuming, life draining, "stay up all hours of the night" type of relationship. It is not always a joyful experience for the Father/Mother or the child. The cost is everything a parent has within them. The benefit is a child who will honor his Parents."
Some parents lord over their children. Our children are lent to us from the Lord and we are to love them and care for them; not rule over them. We have to remember that the time will when they will grow UP and then OUT!
We can't live their lives for them, nor can we attempt to live our own lives vicariously through them. The development of our children should be the goal of our parenting. Someone I hear once said, "The greatest mark of a leader is Development, not dictatorship!"So what does this mean? It means that we should keep the main things the main things. In this day and age is too easy to get so caught in the daily "rat race" and to fail to keep the important things important.
A great majority of people spend most of their time on things that have no eternal significance. Don't be one of them. Determine today to do all you can, while you can, for as long as you can; and as you do it, do it with God in mind.
Keep Him first and He will help you to prioritize your efforts so that you can leave the legacy He expects you to leave!
Father, I thank You for giving me this reminder to keep the main things the main things. I take self-inventory and I make the changes You lead me to make. I understand what is really important. I know what things have eternal significance and what things don't. I focus my efforts on the things that are pleasing to You. I pour into my children and my grandchildren all that You have poured into me. And I pass down The Blessing upon them. I leave an inheritance of righteousness and a legacy of love! In Jesus' name. Amen!
(Prov 10:7 NLT) We have happy memories of the godly, but the name of a wicked person rots away.
Here Solomon contrasts the legacy of the righteous with the short-lived memory of the wicked. I believe the NIV translation of says it plainly, saying, "Good people are remembered long after they are gone, but the wicked are soon forgotten."How do you want to be remembered? Will you be remembered at all? 100 years after your death, will your name still remain? Will the legacy of your works echo through the halls of time? Will the work of your hands leave an indelible mark in heaven's history books? After you are gone, will you be inducted into the Hall of Faith? These are probing questions. They are soul-searching questions. These are the types of questions that make us consider what life is all about and whether or not we are giving our time, energy and effort to the right things. In Proverbs 13 (v.22) Solomon tells us that a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. The inheritance he talks about does include money, but it is not limited to it. The Amplified Bible translation of that text tells us that part of what a good man/woman leaves behind is an inheritance of "Moral stability and goodness."
This reminds me of a message I heard in the past. One of the points brought out in that message was that we should "Father or Mother for Purpose, not for Pleasure." Although our children are our greatest legacy, the focus of our parenting should not be on us, but rather on them. Our focus should be to prepare them for life. Any loving parent wants to bless their children, but we must remember that sometimes we have to make the hard decisions, even when the outcome will not be pleasing to our kids. If all we focus on is their pleasure, we might fail to prepare them for their purpose.
A Father/Mother must do more than just have children. He raises his children to become mature adults. It is a painful, costly, time consuming, life draining, "stay up all hours of the night" type of relationship. It is not always a joyful experience for the Father/Mother or the child. The cost is everything a parent has within them. The benefit is a child who will honor his Parents."
Some parents lord over their children. Our children are lent to us from the Lord and we are to love them and care for them; not rule over them. We have to remember that the time will when they will grow UP and then OUT!
We can't live their lives for them, nor can we attempt to live our own lives vicariously through them. The development of our children should be the goal of our parenting. Someone I hear once said, "The greatest mark of a leader is Development, not dictatorship!"So what does this mean? It means that we should keep the main things the main things. In this day and age is too easy to get so caught in the daily "rat race" and to fail to keep the important things important.
A great majority of people spend most of their time on things that have no eternal significance. Don't be one of them. Determine today to do all you can, while you can, for as long as you can; and as you do it, do it with God in mind.
Keep Him first and He will help you to prioritize your efforts so that you can leave the legacy He expects you to leave!
Father, I thank You for giving me this reminder to keep the main things the main things. I take self-inventory and I make the changes You lead me to make. I understand what is really important. I know what things have eternal significance and what things don't. I focus my efforts on the things that are pleasing to You. I pour into my children and my grandchildren all that You have poured into me. And I pass down The Blessing upon them. I leave an inheritance of righteousness and a legacy of love! In Jesus' name. Amen!
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