Christian Reflection and Prayer

HOW WILL YOU BE REMEMBERED?

"For Solomon has abandoned me…"
1 Kings 11:33 NLT

Final epitaphs

"How would you like to be remembered after your
death? Have you considered what the epitaph on
your gravestone might read?

One headstone in Ribbesford, England, marking
the grave of a woman named Anna Wallace,
reads: "The children of Israel wanted bread, and
the Lord sent them manna. Old clerk Wallace
wanted a wife, and the Devil sent him Anna."

Not the final words Anna expected, I'm sure.
But as always, those she left behind got the last
word.

You have to cringe and wonder when you see the
gravestone of a man from Plymouth, Massachusetts,
named John McMahon. It says: "He Was a Failure
As a Husband and Father." How would you like
that as your legacy?

But the saddest epitaph of all isn't found on a
tombstone; it's found is the pages of Scripture.
When faced with the task of memorializing the
wise king Solomon, God had some sobering words.
"Solomon has abandoned me and worshiped
Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians…He has
not followed my ways and done what is pleasing in
my sight. He had not obeyed my laws and regulations
as his father, David, did." Solomon was buried in the
city of David, and in spite of all the good things he did,
he will forever be remembered as the king who turned
his back on God.

We would all do well to ask ourselves a simple
question: If God were to write my obituary, what would
he record?"

(From Embracing Eternity by Tim LaHaye, Jerry B.
Jenkins and Frank M. Martin (Tyndale) p 309)