November 2nd, 2013

Acts 24:6 — And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.

In my quiet time recently I’ve been dipping into a book by Harold Sala, founder of Guidelines International Ministries. It’s called “Profiles in Faith: Inspirational Readings Based on Lives of People Who Changed the World”. In one of the profiles he raises the question as to what kind of reputation we will leave behind … what kind of memories will people have of us?
Some of the great figures in the Bible left wonderful reputations behind them. Consider David, of whom Luke said “… he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.”
Think of Moses. He was described as a man of God, a servant of God and, best of all as a friend of God. Exodus 33:1 says “And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” Surely not a bad epitaph.
There are so many others. Some of them we know very little about. There’s Enoch — all we know of him is in Genesis 5:21-25 and a comment in Hebrews 11:5 that “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” There’s Dorcas whose reputation is encapsulated in a single verse in Acts 9, “Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and alms deeds which she did.”
So how about you? What do you want people to remember about you? I’ve been thinking about that myself. I’ve come to what might seem a perverse conclusion. I don’t care what they say about me when I’m gone! Why should I? I’d rather be like Paul and focus on not giving offense to God or man.
There are some wonderful verses at the start of Chapter 44 of the book called Ecclesiasticus (also known as The Wisdom of Sirach), in the apocrypha. (So for us Protestants it’s not canonical, but it still has a lot of wise words.)
It starts by praising those who have gone before … but then verses 9 and 10 say “And some there be, which have no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them. But these were merciful men, whose righteousness hath not been forgotten.” Sirach calls out this group — nobody remembers their names, but their good deeds live on. They have no earthly reputation — but I think their heavenly reputations are secure. I wouldn’t mind being in that group! If people remember anything, let them remember any good things I might do. Nobody needs to remember the name …