What Do You Want On Your Tombstone?
While in Pecos, Texas several years ago, my family and I were looking for local attractions (which proved to be few) and found “The West of the Pecos Museum” which was an old saloon/hotel from the 1800’s. Among the most interesting things we saw was a display of guns owned by famous Pecos residents. In the center of them all was an old break-action shotgun owned by notorious gunfighter Clay Allison. Under the exhibition is the tagline that also appears on his tombstone in the Pecos cemetery, “He never killed a man that didn’t need killin’.” I asked my wife, “How’d you like to have that as a legacy for your life??!!”
What will be on your tombstone? Every day we’re making for ourselves a legacy that may not altogether be what we would like to be remembered by. If taking an honest assessment of our lives, someone might very well sum up our personal life in a way that we might not like: “He never watched a Netflix series that didn’t need watchin’.” “He never owned an Apple product that didn’t need ownin’.” “She never bought a shoe that didn’t need buyin’.” “She never tweeted a tweet that didn’t need a-tweetin’.” Ludicrous? You bet. A little close to home? Probably. If we’re honest with ourselves.
Consider for a moment what Moses might have had on his tombstone (had the world known where he was buried—Deut. 34:6). Moses might have had, “he never struck a rock that didn’t need strikin’.” That was a definite low point in judgment of this leader of God’s people (Num. 20). However, it was out of character for Moses and moments like that were not the standard for his life. It was the exception of who he was, not the rule. Thus, the Lord Himself penned the legacy of Moses as, “the servant of the Lord” and “the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth” (Deut. 34:5; Num. 12:3). He was that way because being the servant of the Lord defined Moses as a person first and foremost.
Most of us know what kind of thing we’d like to be remembered by. It may be something to the effect of, “He never encouraged a Christian that didn’t need encouragin’.” “She never served a person that didn’t need servin’.” “He never evangelized a man that didn’t need evangelizin’.” However, as we have pointed out, sometimes expectation doesn’t match with reality. So how do we get there? We purpose and act only as servants of the Lord (James 1:22; Rev. 14:13).
What do you want on your tombstone? No, not the old pizza commercial, but what do you want to be remembered for? It all depends on how we define ourselves as a person. For the one who calls himself or herself the servant of the Lord and behaves that way, God will take care of our reputation, our name, and our legacy.
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