How will people remember you?

And so after about 7 months, we finally finish up the books of Moses.

Ironically, we finish with the one chapter Moses didn’t write.  Instead, it was an epilogue relating Moses’ death.  And then it gives this tribute to him:

Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land.

For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. (Deuteronomy 34:10-12)

Now that’s a tribute.  A man who knew the Lord face to face.  A man through whom God’s power was evident.  A man used by God to deliver the Israelites from the hand of the Egyptians.

As I read that, I wonder, how will people remember me?

My dad passed away last month.  I know how I remember my dad.  I have some glimpses of how my brother, sister, and mother remember him.

I’m not really sure how other people in his life viewed him.  If they were to write a tribute to him, what would they say?

And if I were to pass away today, what would people say about me?  My family?  My friends?  My coworkers?  The people at church?  What memories of me would they take with them?

I don’t know.  All I know, is that I’ve got a long way to go before I’m the man that God wants me to be.  I have a lot of weaknesses.  I have a lot of failures.

But I hope through all of that, people still catch a glimpse of Christ in me.  Moses wrote in Psalm 90

The length of our days is seventy years—
or eighty, if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10)

And so he prayed,

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (12)

and,

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands. (17)

I suppose that’s my prayer right now.  “Lord, teach me to number my days aright that I might live wisely.  And establish the work of my hands.

“I don’t want my life to be for nothing.  Show me what I need to be doing.  And don’t let that work be in vain.”

There’s a song I love, and it also is the cry of my heart.

Lord my friend has gone to be with you.
I’m not asking why or questioning what you do.

But I’m realizing that my days are numbered too.
Will my life have been all that I wanted it to.

Will my friends reflect on precious memories.
And if I sing to the world, will they know you were the love in me?
And the praise I gave go on eternally?
How will they remember me?

How will they remember?
I hope when they remember they see you.

I know that in my heart I must be sure
all my days have not just slipped away.

It already seems life will be too short.
Wasn’t I a child just yesterday?
Time just slips away.  Could’ve been yesterday.

Lord, I’m not afraid to be with you.
But I feel there’s so much left for me to do.

I just have to know that I made you proud too.
Will they know I love you?

How will they remember?
I hope when they remember they see you.

I want the world to see Jesus in me.