Initially, it was just a picture like any other. Then, it caught my attention and invoked my curiosity. I began to wonder if there was a deeper meaning behind this beautiful depiction. In my wonderland, I drew closer to the frame for a better look. That was when I saw the implication behind the picture. The message was so simple and clear that someone could write a book about it.
Life is like a stage built for drama. You come, act your part, and leave the stage for another person. Regardless of how encapsulating we think our roles are on that stage, at one point or the other, we must move aside for others so that the play of life can continue. As it is with life on earth, there is no permanent position. Nothing is ever truly permanent on earth, not even this world we live in. As life is everchanging and ever-continuing, somewhere in its near-infinite cycle, we would only be remembered for the small part we played on the stage. People come and go but the footprints we leave, trail after us, so, we must be mindful of the way we treat one another. We should be careful not to make anyone feel like trash or send people to the dungeon of depression due to the ways we treat them
Sometimes, saying “No” and being firm in our decision is a necessity. Even then, God’s words say we should speak the truth in love. There is nothing we have that God has not given, and there is nothing we have acquired in this world that is lasting forever because life ends on earth and continues in eternity.
It is good sometimes to pause and ask ourselves questions: What do I want to be remembered for? Oppression, hypocrisy, partiality, nepotism, envy, arrogance, intelligent but dubious, smiling but dangerous, vision enhancer or vision assassinator…? How do I want to be remembered? Compassionate, loving, kind, caring, life builder, courageous & resilient, man or woman of integrity and loyalty, …?
In the eighteenth century, a preacher and a hymn writer, Horatius Bonar of Edinburgh, wrote a hymn titled: Only Remembered. That is a mind-racking song that we should sing to ourselves often:
1. Fading away like the stars of the morning,
Losing their light in the glorious sun
Thus would we pass from the earth and its toiling,
Only remembered by what we have done.
Only remembered, only remembered,
Only remembered by what we have done;
Thus would we pass from the earth and its toiling,
Only remembered by what we have done.
2. Shall we be missed, though by others
succeeded,
Reaping the fields we in springtime have sown?
Yes, but the Sowers must pass from their labors,
Ever remembered by what they have done.
3. Only the truth that in life we have spoken,
Only the seed that on earth we have sown;
These shall pass onward when we are forgotten,
Fruits of the harvest and what we have done.
4. Oh, when the Saviour shall make up His Jewels,
When the bright crowns of rejoicing are won,
Then shall His weary and faithful disciples
All be remembered by what they have done.
Only remembered, only remembered,
Only remembered by what we have done;
Thus would we pass from the earth and its toiling,
Only remembered by what we have done.
Regardless of our past, we can still make our way right with God by asking for forgiveness as we humbly repent from our misbehavior and allow the cleansing power of His blood to purge us from every form of the Adamic nature.
King David cried out: “If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with You, …” Psalm 130:3-4. Thank God for the forgiveness through Christ.
Acts of Apostle 17:30-31 (NKJV) says: “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Christ makes a difference in the lives of those who welcome Him into their life.
LIVING WORDS OF LIFE 