When we are long gone will there be folks around who remember us? What kinds of things will our families and friends reminisce and speak about us after we’re gone? Will they remember at least some of the good aspects of our time here, or will they rather ignore and forget their time with us? In my own experience, I’m quite sure there are many whose lives I’ve impacted who will remember a lot of negative things and even though I wish there was some way I could go back knowing what I know now and avoid those conflicts, those errors of judgement, and prevent behaviors that have scarred my years here, but alas, that’s not possible. I must hope in the forgiveness of those who I have wronged, or at least the forgetfulness.

We’d like to think there are also positive interactions that some folks will remember about us, for we typically believe there are some who we have helped along the way down this road we consider to be our lives, but only the Lord will be able to judge whether or not those actions merit His providential approval. I also understand enough about God’s plan of salvation to know those good deeds are not sufficient in themselves to provide for access to His kingdom, but they are nevertheless expected of any who would like to get there.

I’ve long held the notion that unless a person is of notable celebrity, the typical endurance of his/her personal legacy is somewhere around two generations. That is to say that when survivors visit the grave of a departed relative, only those who personally knew that person will be able to reflect on what kind of person they were. Maybe kids and grandkids, or if the departed was of sufficient notoriety, a cousin perhaps, or a neighbor, but in general, when a distant relative or descendant stands there reading the engraved information on the stone, the only thing they will want to know about the person underground will be some information for a genealogy project. Kids and grandkids – two generations, and the world forgets and moves on. Visitors to the resting place will have no way of knowing whether or not the long-deceased person enjoyed bluegrass music or if she was a great cook, or any other mundane characteristic of the dead person of which their close family/friends would hold cherished memories. As cruel as it may sound, we simply become a name on a granite block and an entry into a county record – both which will be eventually destroyed and forgotten somewhere down the road. After a while – typically two generations – people will stop visiting the grave – at least to pay respects – entirely.

This applies to famous people too, but in a very different way. Historians have a tendency to reflect whatever things about a president or other leader they deem to support whatever character they would like to present. If a historian who is writing on a former politician of a political party opposite to his own, they tend to emphasize the negatives about their subject, and vice versa. If a writer is doing a biography of a leader of a nation who conducted a war against his own, of course he will only write of the “atrocities” committed by that person. They will be remembered for political stances and famous (or infamous) acts they committed while in office, but the human vagaries of the person himself/herself will be forgotten in two generations. Only the most dedicated biographer would be punctual enough to research whether or not the deceased celebrity enjoyed oak trees, and even those kinds of details would eventually fade away into in the mists of time. Elvis was a famous singer, but did he know anything of wildlife or building construction? No matter their notoriety, we only know superficial things about even the most famous of persons. Nowadays, maybe some would like to send their friends a selfie standing beside the Kennedy eternal flame, but so few remember much about him, and not far down the road, no one will.

Where does that leave us as far as how we’d like to be remembered, seeing that it won’t be too many years after we’re gone that we’ll be entirely forgotten by our fellow human beings? Well, this post is being composed to inform the reader that there is a permanent record of our lives; it’s being recorded as you read. Every detail of your past behavior is indelibly etched into what might as well be eternal granite. The good, the bad and the ugly. Nothing will be forgotten, not in two generations or a thousand. We will all have to give account of every act we committed for the entirety of our short lives here, and for many it’s not going to be very comfortable, as we will be facing a glorious but vengeful Almighty God who will have complete control of the courtroom. He will have absolute authority over our eternal future, and it can be a horrible, terrifying, event, or we might have considered this confrontation during our time on earth and decided to prepare for it.

We have a counsellor Who would like to represent us at that great judgement, but we must seek Him and strive to emulate His love, for our fellow human beings and for Him. Jesus Christ has made the offer to come into and be a part – a big part – of our lives. He is willing to be our Light to show us the Way through this darkness, this valley of the shadow of death. Whatever the enemy throws at us, Jesus is willing to help us through it, but we must first seek His help. When we face the judgement at the end, Jesus will be our counsellor – and the best thing of it all is that the Judge is His Father! God has made it abundantly clear in many places of Scripture that He is willing to forgive – and forget – our past egregious behavior. [Isaiah 1:18]: “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

God is willing to forget our past if we allow Jesus Christ into our lives, so that record of malfeasance of which we are all guilty will not be presented at our judgement. It will be gone and long-forgotten as though it never happened – but only if we allow Jesus Christ to take control of our lives. It won’t matter in the least whether or not humans remember our misbehavior – Jesus has taken them on Himself at the cross, every sin we ever committed will be completely expunged from our record and our names will be in the Lamb’s book of Life which will be our permission into God’s magnificent Kingdom where Jesus, by His own words, has a place prepared for each of us.

Our trail through this maze we consider to be life won’t be completely covered up – our good deeds will still stand. They will be considered in the reward phase of our judgement. The greater the accomplishment – and great accomplishments aren’t the same according to Jesus as they are to us humans – the greater the Heavenly reward we will receive. There was a widow who put a very small amount of money into the offering and Jesus said she had given more than the offerings of the wealthy men there because it was all she had. [Mark 12:41-44]: “⁴¹ Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. ⁴² Then one poor widow came and threw in two ^[o]mites, which make a ^[p]quadrans. ⁴³ So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; ⁴⁴ for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”

Even though we will be long-forgotten by our fellow humans after we finish this race, there will be a permanent record kept through to the end, it’s our choice whether we’d like the record of good deeds to be remembered with the bad ones still painfully attached, or if we want to stand beside our Counsellor with a clean record going into eternity.

May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us.

MK