My fifth-grade year was my favorite grade school year. That was the year the game Pog arrived on the playground. That was the year my reading teacher taught me how to finally enjoy reading. That was the year my classmates and I had a strange party of mismatched friend groups orchestrated by a parent right before we all caught the chicken pox. That was also the year I got the lead speaking role in the class play as half the narrator. It was a singular role but broken into two parts between myself and another little girl in my grade. It was a play about Thomas Jefferson, and it is strange to me how much I remember about the last tune of Tall Tom Jefferson called “Let Me Be Remembered.” The little girl I shared the mic with took turns listing out the accomplishments of Tall Tom Jefferson (played by the shortest boy in the class, a little joke I am sure by our music teacher) speaking of libraries, inventions, universities, the Louisiana Territory, among others. The passing of Dolly Parton in August transported me back to that cafetorium stage and that song as her great nephew eulogized her on social media telling about what he wanted his Aunt Dolly to be remembered for. The question is what do we want to be remembered for?
Paul had an answer to this question. As his final moments were drawing near, he writes to the young evangelist he loved like a son, Timothy. He writes in 2 Timothy 4:6-8: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will aware to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
Paul tells Timothy exactly how he wants to be remembered, and we remember him today for these words: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” When we look back at this man, we see someone who was devoted to God, even when he was following the wrong path. He looked out and saw the pathway which lead to God, and he would do anything to reach Him, even if it meant killing heretics. Paul never claimed to be perfect. He had flaws and a past which he never tried to hide. His pride though was in his God, who guided his steps and were a light to his pathways.
Peter did something similar as he wrote to saints in 2 Peter 1:12-15: “Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.”
Through divine revelation, Peter knew that his life was to end shortly, so he wrote this letter. Was it to rescue him from the death which awaited him? Was it a plea for more time? Was it his final wishes for his earthly things? No. He wanted to be sure to remind them of all the things he had told them about God. He wanted them to remember his teachings, and the stories he told about the man whom he followed decades earlier who turned out to be the Savior of all mankind.
When we go about our daily lives, we should all ask ourselves if our soul were required of us this very night, how would we be remembered? Would it be things we would be embarrassed about such as a drunkard, a gambler, or a rage monster? Would it be things of this life that were good like Jefferson’s institutions of learning, or Dolly’s book program, or my 5th grade reading teacher who would not give up until she found a book her student enjoyed? Would it be things of this life the world would have pity upon us for because we never broke through the challenge? I have been to many funerals, and it seems that the most beautiful ones were the funerals which told about the beautiful life a person walked with God, and how they wish more than anything else that you would follow Him as well. How will you be remembered?
Lance Byers