Our reading today Proverbs 22. After the reading, I’ll have some comments for you. I’m calling today’s episode “What Will They Say?”  

You should want a good name more than you want great riches. To be highly respected is better than having silver or gold.

My wife, the Lovely Lady LeeAnn, doesn’t like it when I talk about this, but Proverbs 22:1 brought it to mind, so I must. 

I’m at the age where I sometimes think about how I will be remembered when I’m no longer around. At close to 68 years old, I think I have eased out of middle age. Wouldn’t you agree? As a matter of fact, at this point I have lived longer my biological father, and three of his four brothers. The paternal side of my family didn’t live long lives. My mother’s side of the family mostly lived into their 80’s and 90’s, so it’s anybody’s guess what the chances are that I’ll live to be an old man. I tease about being old now, but 68 really isn’t considered to be old like it was in past generations. Is it??? Maybe I’m just kidding myself.

But I do think about how I’ll be remembered. One thing is for sure, I have no interest at all in being remembered for how wealthy or poor I was. I have never lived my life to see how much wealth I could acquire. Sure, I tried to provide as comfortable life as I could for the Lovely Lady LeeAnn and my kids, but I never made it a goal to see how large I could grow my business or bank account.

I had a childhood friend who I was very close to, even into our twenties. We were both Christians and grew up in middle class families, we played sports together at our high school, and generally had the same values. Around the age of about 30 we began to grow apart, mostly because our lives just got busy with family and trying to earn livings for ourselves. 

But then this friend of mine got into a business that eventually made him a multi-millionaire. It’s a good business. He is well respected in his industry, as far as I know, and he travels the world and has all the trappings of success. Except it does not appear that he has a relationship with the Lord. Again, I am no longer close him, but I see him occasionally. Obviously I can’t know what is in his heart. But I cannot say that there is any observable evidence that Jesus has a place in his life.

Sure, when he is gone people will know that he had great wealth. From that perspective, his life will have been a success. When we were in our twenties, I remember having conversations about gaining wealth, and that was one of his top goals. So he made it.

But when people remember me, I want to be remembered as a godly man. I want my kids and grandkids to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I loved God, and I lived my life for Him. Of course, they’ll remember I was far from perfect, but I hope they’ll know that despite my flaws, I was one hundred percent in love with my Lord. I hope that I have many more years to build memories with them that they’ll be able to look back on when I’m gone that will cause them to say, “Yes. He was a good man, an honest man, a fair man, a man of integrity, and above all, a godly man.”

That matters far more to me than leaving them a big inheritance. I would much rather leave a legacy of living for the Lord, than how to become wealthy. 

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 22 NIRV

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