When It Is All Said And Done

2 Timothy 4:7

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

When you are gone from this world, what will be said of you by those who you leave behind? Do you ever think about those things? I do, and I think that it is important that we all do. Some people will be remembered as being kind, some as being loving, some as good parents or spouses, faithful, hard workers while others maybe remembered as being cruel, hateful, lazy, selfish hooligans.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be remembered as being the latter of the two above. I have found that there is only one way to be remembered like we want to be remembered, and that is to live that way. We will be remembered after we are gone not by how we wish we had lived, but by how we actually did live. In a very real sense, we are daily writing the epitaph that will be on the tombstone of our lives. Some of you may be thinking that this is morbid and you don’t want to be reminded of that now. After all, you think that you have many years here before you have to start thinking about things like that. You may have many years left in this life, but it is never too early to start living like you want to be remembered, in fact for all of us, now is the perfect time to start that lifestyle.

I love what Paul wrote here in honest confession of his life and in admonition to his young protégé Timothy. He was not bragging or prideful, but was simply being honest about his life here on earth. You see you can know at the time of your departure that you have done all that you were supposed to do. You can leave this world with no regrets. You too can leave knowing that you have fought a good fight in the Christian life, that you have finished the course laid out for you and that you have kept the faith. Therefore as Paul, you can look forward to the reward of the Crown of Righteousness that is held for you. Today, start living as if you might die tomorrow.