How Will You Be Remembered?, Peter And His 3 Paths

“How will you be remembered?”

Peter and his 3 paths…

Over the past two weeks I have been spending a lot of time watching the news about the Pope’s death. Any time a public figure passes away like the Pope or Mother Teresa, Princess Di you can always expect that there are going to be countless tributes to their life. These last two weeks news people from all over the world have been churning out short documentaries on the Pope’s life. How he was elected. What major influences he had during his time. What good and bad things were accomplished because of his work. I was really amazed at the millions of people that stood in line for hours on end to take one last look at the Pope before his funeral. Millions around the world have paid their respects to his life.

Watching all of this on TV, the media craze, the huge love and support shown from millions of people, the short documentaries that look back and remember one man’s life really got me thinking.

How will people remember me? Another way to ask this is if you were to die today, what would people remember you for? Think of your life. We don’t think about it but the truth is that how we treat people now, what we say, how we think, what we believe, decisions we have made will all reflect peoples opinions of us now and after the Lord says its time to go home. Of course millions die everyday and only a handful will be remembered on the same level as a JFK, or President Reagan, or the Pope, but each of us when we pass on from this life will be remembered for something. People will look back on our lives and reflect on how we lived our one chance on this earth. How we treated people, what we believed, how we acted, how we spoke. So, if you were to die today how would you be remembered?

Would people say you were someone that was great at your job, worked hard and made tons of money? Would they say you were a nice person always trying to find ways to help out your neighbor? That you were a loving caring husband, father, mother, or wife. If we are totally honest with ourselves, which is very hard to do, some of us might have to admit that if we died today we wouldn’t leave a very positive memory behind. Maybe we were selfish, never told our children or spouse that we loved them, worked to many hours, maybe we will be remembered as the type of person that held grudges to easily or that always wanted to gossip about other people. Or for me personally, the worse memory I could leave behind would be the one of a spiritual actor. Someone that is remembered for playing the role on Sunday and being who they really are the other six days.

I don’t believe anyone in here would consciously say they want to leave this earth, their one chance here, with a bad reputation. Or that they would want people to remember them only for how selfish, troublemaking, rude, or fake they were. I believe that everyone in here wants to be remembered for something special.

I know that when I pass on the one thing I want people to remember me for more than anything else is my unwavering devotion to Jesus Christ. If we are believers in Christ that should be our desire. If someone comes to you and says what do you want to be remembered for that should be it. Our unwavering devotion to our Lord and Savior.

I don’t want to be remembered for being one of the greatest sports figures in the world, or a great writer, or a doctor that saved millions of people. Those are all great and awesome things that should be recognized but it is our relationship with our lord that should supersedes all of those things.

A couple of weeks ago I went to my grandfather’s funeral. He was the last of my grandpa’s so if anyone today wants to adopt me I am taking applications. You know my grandfather was an incredible man. He was a military man. He served directly under General Patton in WWII. But you know not one of his countless amazing stories were shared during his funeral. What was shared for 30 minutes was the story of a man that led a simple life. That loved his 4 children and his wife of 57 years with everything in him and his unwavering devotion to Jesus Christ. To me that was incredible. He did so many great things in his life but it was his relationship with the Lord that was remembered over everything else.