I’ll be honest. I’m still getting used to being a pastor. Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love it. However, at times, I feel like I’m living in a fishbowl. That feeling sometimes comes with the temptation to always try to do the right thing or say the right thing so I don’t mess up. What I’ve quickly realized is that I am (and probably already have) going to mess up. I won’t always do the right thing. I won’t always say the right thing. If I spend all my time trying not to “mess up”, I will likely do just that all the quicker.
Maybe you sometimes feel like that. Can I tell you something? You’re going to mess up too. It’s inevitable. So what do we do about it? Well, it seems to me that instead of worrying so much about trying to be perfect, we should spend our time, energy, and efforts on trying to be the most consistent models of Christ that we can be. It’s more about consistency than it is perfection. If we strive to be like Christ on a daily basis, then we are far more apt to grow in His grace and His likeness than we would by trying to be perfect in one particular situation.
For some reason, I’ve been thinking about legacy a lot lately. I think it’s because my son recently saw me react to a situation in an unbecoming manner. I remember thinking at the time, “Lord, don’t let him remember this about his daddy”. So that got me thinking. What do I want him to remember about me? When I’m gone, what do I want him to say about his father?
These questions lead me to 1 Kings 2:1-4. In this passage, King David is about to die. He has had a fruitful ministry for over 40 years, and now, he is “about to go the way of all the earth”. He is handing the kingdom over to his son Solomon, who has to this point lived a rather sheltered life. David is about to give him a charge, or an order, on how to live a life that is worth living. Now this is an interesting passage for many reasons. For one, we rarely focus on this passage in our churches. We certainly talk a lot about David. We talk about him being a shepherd boy. We talk about his battle with Goliath. We talk about his friendship with Jonathan. We even talk about his sin with Bathsheba. But we rarely talk about the end of his life. That is unfortunate, because I think there is a lot that we can take away from his charge to Solomon.
You see, David didn’t model perfection in his life, but he did model consistency. David sinned, but he always returned to the Lord. We see in verse two that David tells his son to be strong and to show himself a man. What does that mean? When David says to Solomon “be strong”, this is certainly meant in a spiritual context, and it seems to me that one is strong spiritually only through total reliance and dependence on the Lord. In other words, we are made strong through our weakness. The weaker we are in relation to our dependence on Christ, the stronger we are. To “show yourself a man” would involve much more than simply being a mighty warrior. It would involve courage. It would involve taking a stand for things even when you stand alone, for if you are strong in Christ, you are not truly alone. Remember that Christ went to the cross alone, but He stood tall.
David also tells Solomon to observe what the Lord requires by keeping His law. For the Jewish person, keeping the law was and still is of the utmost importance. They ponder on it daily and even memorize it. Memorizing Scripture is an admirable task, and one I wholeheartedly support, but let’s make sure that we do it for the right reasons. Let’s not memorize Scripture simply to say that we marked it off of a spiritual checklist. Let’s memorize it and then apply it to our lives so that we might grow as a model of consistency. It’s all about application. David closes his final talk with his son by reminding him that if he does all of these things, he will prosper and all of his descendants after him will have a legacy of consistent faithfulness to the Lord.
That’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it? Leaving those that come behind me a model of consistent, if not perfect, service to our Lord. Going back to my original question about what I want my son to say about me after I’m gone, I think I want him to say that I loved Jesus more than anything else on earth, and because I did, I was able to love him, his mother, and his sisters more completely. I want him to say that I was consistent in my faith. When I messed up, I repented and tried again. But what will others say about me? I had a friend that recently reminded me of this. She said, “What about the gas station attendant? What will they say about us?” So true! I want to leave a legacy of consistency for all that I come in contact with, not just my family. Life is such a series of short interactions with people, and for some, I’m the only glimpse of Jesus that they will ever see. That tells me that I need to make my short moments count with all people.
So when others remember you, what will they remember? What will they say? Will it be what you want them to remember? Just as David did with Solomon, let’s focus not so much on perfection, but on consistency. Let’s focus on leaving a legacy that truly lasts.
Until next week,
Pastor JP
