Jump Start # 1897

Proverbs 10:7 “The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.”

Our verse is about remembering people, not just anyone, but specifically the righteous. Most can remember school teachers, coaches, neighbors. These folks are in our lives for a short while. Some make differences and others just pass through without much impact.

Here, in our verse, the memory of the righteous is blessed. You remember a Christian. Something about that person has stayed in your mind and your heart. There was a quality that stuck with you. They were kind to you. They took the time to leave an impression upon you, even when you were just a kid. They stood out. Maybe you were going through a tough time in your life and they were there to navigate you through some tough decisions. Maybe others were ready to give up on you, but this one person was there. Forgiving. Gracious. Willing to give you a second chance. Believing in you.

Now, years later, you have moved on. Maybe that righteous person has finished his journey here. You’ve grown up, gotten married and are busy in your world. But something brought their memory to you. That happened just today for me. So innocent. So nothing. Today is Jump Start # 1897. That number, 1897, was the year my grandfather was born. I have a picture of him that sits in my office. It was taken around the time he was married. I don’t remember him looking like that. He was old when I remember him. He passed away when I was in college. He was a kind, decent man who walked with the Lord. His middle name was given as a middle name to one of my sons. But something as simple as a number, can bring the memory of the righteous to you.

Last summer I was preaching in another state. A home I visited had an old wooden pulpit that was decorated and being used as a show piece. When I was told where that pulpit came from and who once stood behind it, one of my heroes, a flood of memories came to my mind.

There are three simple thoughts we ought to see here:

First, we ought to surround ourselves with righteous people. We need to be making memories of these men. Eugene is a man that worships with me. I’ve noticed that when we have a visiting preacher, he’ll have them sign his Bible. He’s getting quite a list. My son was asked to do that recently. He was preaching in another place. Someone asked him to sign his Bible. There were several names. To his surprise, my name was among them. Do more than worship with righteous people, get to know them. Include them in your life. Learn from them. See the amazing footprints that they are leaving. We do well when we surround ourselves with quality people and people that we plan to see in Heaven. For young, as well as for old, our troubles often come from being influenced by worthless people. People who do not love the Lord can take us away from Him.

Second, we need to reflect upon what made these people special to us. This is the memory part. In thinking about them, our thoughts ought to quickly turn to thankful prayers. We are thankful for the difference these righteous ones have made in our lives. Do you have a list of spiritual heroes? My preaching son, Jordan and I were talking one day, and we envisioned the “Dream Team” of a church. Of all the song leaders we know, who would we have on our Dream Team. We named elders. Who would be our dream elders. We named preachers. We named deacons. We named righteous people. That dream team will be assembled someday in Heaven. But that fun little trip down memory lane, allowed me to share with him the names and incredible stories of brethren who have helped me through the years. Remembering good people and good deeds helps us. It makes us feel loved. It reminds us of what is good and right.

The second half of our verse says the name of the wicked will rot. The wicked are forgotten. We sometimes do just the opposite of what this verse says. We remember the hurts and the pains and we forget to count our blessings. We forgot about the wonderful righteous people but we hold on to the ugliness that has been thrown our way. Remembering the pain and the sins only takes our spirits down. It makes us feel alone. We want to give up on others because of the awful way we were treated. Forget that stuff. Let it go. Don’t hold on to that. Don’t make that a memory. Instead, focus upon the righteous. Remember them. Remember the good that they did and the good that they were.

I find that too many of us are running full speed ahead and we just don’t have time to remember. There is too much to do and we move at such a fast pace that who has time to think about people long ago. So we don’t. Pictures on bookshelves help. Names in a Bible help. When certain hymns are sung, it takes us to places long ago and worshipping with special people in our lives. Don’t let the needs of today, cause you to lose the memory of the righteous. I took one of my commentaries home the other night to read about a section of Scripture. As I opened the book, several papers fell out. I had forgotten that they were in that book. One was from a funeral of a righteous man. Another piece of paper was a handwritten note that righteous man had sent me. The bottom of the note was his signature, only his first name. It read, “Jim.” It was a note from a dear righteous man, Jim Babcock. It was sweet and kind—just like I remember him. The memory of the righteous.

The third aspect of these thoughts is that you and I need to be living in such a way that we become the memory for someone. Years from now we may be finished with our journey here, but if this world carries on, our memory will remain in the lives that we have touched. Just as others have been special to us, we need to be doing the same for others. A word to my fellow preachers. Most of us can remember the first preacher in our lives. For many of us, we were little kids and we remember that booming voice. Years from now, someone may say your name as the very first preacher that they ever remembered. What will that memory be? There may be folks today who are sticking notes that you have written into books and Bibles and years from now, those notes may fall out and they may pause and reflect upon a life well lived.

How you live and the time you give to others does make a difference. While you may forget what you have done, they may always remember it. That very memory may help them continue to do what is right. That memory of you may make them realize that they too need to be leaving a godly memory to their family.

The memory of the righteous…oh, the thoughts that brings to us. And what is very special about this is that God never forgets those righteous ones. He knows what they did. The memory of them is precious to the Lord.

Roger

Jump Start # 1007

Proverbs 10:7 “The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.”

  The busyness of the holidays and getting things lined out for the new year nearly made me forget. It hit me last night. Today is the anniversary of my mom’s death. It’s been a long time now—nineteen years. She died from cancer. I remember the day. A few days after that, I preached her funeral. She and I worked on what she wanted me to say.

Grief affects people differently. Some seem to move on well. Others seem to stop. Time is a great healer. My kids were all small nineteen years ago. Work, kids and keeping yourself engaged in the lives of others is essential. I remember within a few days of my mom’s funeral, I had to preach another funeral. That brought back tons of tears and it was a struggle to get through. You hear people sometimes saying, “Not a day goes by that I do not think about my dad or my mom.” I can’t say that. There are many days that I haven’t thought about her but I haven’t forgotten her either. I taught a class about parenting recently. That brought up many memories. I saw someone recently that looked a bit like my mom. That made me think. My memory of her is sweet. I do miss her.

In our passage today, the writer refers to the memory of the righteous. He remembered. He thought of the righteous. The memory of the righteous, the text tells us, is blessed. Good thoughts. Happy times. Great example recalled and reflected upon. This thought leads to a few observations:

1. Righteous people are thankful for other righteous people. The memory is blessed. We tend to try to forget the bad things and ugly comments in life. We don’t treasure the time we got chewed out by a boss or we made our parents mad. Not good moments and they generally came after we made some poor choices. We learn, move on and stuff those terrible moments in unmarked graves never to be visited again. Righteous people are different. We cherish thinking about them. Their kindness and generosity made a difference when we were first starting out. They took time to show us and teach us. They gave a listening ear when we got all worked up about something. Righteous people make the world a nicer place. The more we have in our lives the more blessed we are. Are they perfect? No. They would be the first to say that they weren’t. But they are trying and that is awesome. Righteous people recognize the value of other righteous people. The more righteous people in your life the better you will be.

2. The deeds of righteous people outlive them. The Hebrew writer said of Abel, “he speaks though he is dead.” In Revelation we find, the deeds of the righteous follow them. Many of us are a part of congregations that were built and held together by the work of righteous men and women years ago. They taught, financed and prayed about God’s people and kept the lights burning and today we stand upon their shoulders. There are hymns that we sing that are hundreds of years old. Those songs have been sung to Jehovah over and over and today, we are still singing them. The work we are engaged in out lives us. There are things that we are doing that may be used to help someone fifty years from now. We can’t see that far, but works have a way of hanging around and helping for a long, long time.

3. Some will remember us for what we are doing. We hope the memory is pleasant and good. We hope that they remember someone who was patient and kind. We hope that they see a person who loved the Lord and walked in righteousness. You don’t want to be remembered as the person who always complained. You don’t want to be known as the one who always raised a stink and argued and fussed about everything. Some are like that. My memory of some is like that. It’s not a good memory. How we interact, conduct our selves and behave around others sets the tone for how we will be remembered.

4. Finally, God alone has the true picture of what a person is like. We may only see the warts of a person’s character or we may ignore the warts and see only flawless character. God knows. God is merciful, kind, just and fair. God knows. He knows the secrets as well as the obvious things. He knows the motives and the attitudes. He knows us, inside and out.

So often, as we are busy with life, we don’t realize that we are forming memories for others. They see us. Someday when we are gone, there will be footprints that we have left. Give thought to that. Don’t be too busy for others. Each of us has a special person in our past that we think fondly of. It may have been a school teacher, a parent, someone from church. You remember that person with great joy and fondness. It’s a pleasant memory that you cherish. Live so you can help someone else like that.

The memory of the righteous…what a great thought. What a great place to go to in your mind. Sunny days, pleasant times. Those moments remind you of what is important. They teach you that you too, are leaving an example for others.

The memory of the righteous…

Roger

Jump Start # 925

Proverbs 10:7 “The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.”

Yesterday in our Jump Starts, I wrote about going to the funeral of a young 27 year old. It was a very emotional day. Lots of tears. Today, is a new day. I’m back home and have a long list of things that I need to get about doing. It’s a work day. It’s a school day. But for a family in Ohio, the day after the funeral can be just as difficult as the day OF the funeral. This is not just for them, but for all of us. I have been there. I expect most of you have been there. The emotion of the funeral often carries one through the immediate grief. There are flowers and cards and tons of people that come. There is food and emails and phone calls. It’s exhausting. It’s powerful to know that one is not alone. But after the funeral, most return to a normal life. For a family of a departed one, normal doesn’t exist anymore. There is someone missing. There is an empty chair at dinner. There is a empty room. There is a empty spot in the bed. This is when the grief really hits.

How does one continue on spiritually? Worship is different when you went as a family and someone is no longer there? It’s especially hard when the departed had a leading role, such as an elder or a preacher. There are constant reminders everywhere of what is missing in your life. There is a hole in your heart that nothing seems to fill.

Our verse helps. It states that the memory of the righteous is blessed. Grief is similar to surgery. At first, it just hurts. There is no short cut, detour ramp around that. It is a journey. For some it is longer than others. Even within the same family, the journey takes different lengths of time. Every holiday, birthday, anniversary, even songs on the radio bring back a torrent of sorrow and tears. It hurts, plain and simple. The first year is the hardest. There is a ache in your soul that just doesn’t seem to go away. A person wants to fast forward through all of that but you can’t. Understand that those who love you and are near to you feel very awkward. They don’t know if it is right to talk about the departed or not. If they do, you might cry. If they avoid the subject, it seems like they don’t care. Your transparency helps. Let them know that this is not a good time to talk about that. Or, I want to talk about the person. Your lead helps.

Know that God knows and God cares. Don’t let the mountain of grief keep you from the Lord or worship. Worship is hard, especially immediately after funerals. Everyone will ask “How are you doing?” What are you supposed to say? There seems to be more attention that you like. More hugs. More people hanging around. It’s uncomfortable. Folks are trying, be thankful for that.

Pray helps. No one understands more than God. This is the time for those closest prayers that Jesus talked about. You can just pray and pray to God. Remember in all of this, that you are talking to God. He doesn’t have to answer our “Why’s?” He doesn’t owe us an explanation. He doesn’t answer to us. He is God. You are talking to God.

The journey eventually moves past the hurting point to the memory stage. The memory of the righteous is blessed, that’s our verse. You start thinking and talking about the departed more easily. The tears are fewer. You start remembering things that you had forgotten about. The smile comes back. Laughter returns. Healing is taking place. Just like a surgery. It takes time.

This is the natural process. Some don’t make it there. Some never heal. The grief crushes them and destroys them. Without Christ, the winds, rain and floods collapses their house. They had no foundation, no faith, no hope beyond the visible. They are destroyed by grief. Paul talked about those who grieve without hope in 1 Thessalonians 4. The death of the righteous and the death of the wicked is different. The hope for the righteous and the hope for the wicked is different. The memory of the righteous and the memory of the wicked is different.

I have many friends who have had funerals this year. It’s been very hard on them. I wish there was a pill you could take that would get you through all of these things. There isn’t. I know these things because I have had funerals in my family.

I have found comfort in the expression from Ps 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for You are with me.” I walk through. This is a journey. The shepherd led the sheep through the valleys to the high country as summer began. They didn’t stay in the valley. The valley wasn’t the end of the journey. I walk through. I pass through. We shall pass through the land of grief. We are heading somewhere. Grief is not our destination.

The other expression from this verse that helps is knowing that YOU ARE WITH ME. I am not alone. No one else may fully understand. God does. No one else may be there. God is. No one else really comforts. God does. You are with me.

The tears will dry. Life will go on. God is your help in trouble. Make sure you are with God. No one will help like God.

I hope these words help those who are hurting today. I hope it helps to know that others care and are thinking about you. I hope it helps to know that others have been right where you are. I hope it helps to know that others have made it through grief and are better today.

It takes time…but God has all the time in the world, to help you and to be there for you.

Roger