Stick your finger in a bucket of water.
Pull it out.
Try to find the hole you left.
It’s a humbling illustration of how insignificant we truly are, or at least how it appears and feels that we are in life—sometimes. Today, I went to the online memorial of a mighty-man of God. He died at 83. He lived a life of significance. He wrote probably a dozen books. He taught at a number of seminaries. He pastored a large church in California. He and his wife raised a wonderful family with six children. He started at least three national ministries. One of them is now an international ministry. His voice was a radio presence for many years. He was once a college president. He was faithful to his wife and a warm friend to all he knew.
He finished his race well. He was admirable in every way. And so when I opened up his online memorial page which first opened back in May, I was shocked to see that there were exactly 29 (only) people who left a comment on his impact. Astounding!
We are told that only 30 people attended the funeral and graveside service of the C.S. Lewis! Astounding! Of course the day Lewis died two other significant people died. One, the American President, John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Aldous Huxley, English writer and philosopher died within hours of one another. JFK’s death obscured a lot of things on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world and news of Lewis’s death got lost in the spotlight that was on Kennedy and the American scene. Lewis and my friend were giants of faithfulness and impact in their days and yet almost no one was there in their celebration of life services.
[Aside: A Great book by Peter Kreeft, BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL, imagines a conversation between these three men (Kennedy, Lewis and Huxley) before each moves on to their final destiny. It is well worth reading.]
On the other hand, some of the funerals where we do see massive crowds in attendance, are often for people of dubious significance and less than admirable lives. In many ways, these funerals give propaganda for the lives they celebrate even when they are not worthy.
How do we measure significance?
Mostly, wrongly.
But this is why we need to learn wisdom. Wisdom is not living for your celebrity, or your comfort, or security. Wisdom is not living for your bank account, or your power, or your prestige. Wisdom is not living for your popularity, or fame, or followers.
ChosenRebel's Blog 
Great thoughts Marty. I ponder about this a lot as I get older, especially due to having a critical illness. I think about who is going to tell my story 50 years from now. Will my life be significant? My first thought is to work hard to leave a credible legacy for my children’s, children. My second thought is something that I heard you preach about “being famous in hell” This was in reference to Acts 19:15 where the evil spirit said that he knew Jesus & Paul but was unfamiliar with the men that were attempting to cast him out. So this is the goal, to do as much ministry outside the four walls of the church so that it will greatly negatively impact the intents of the devil. Our name is already written in the book in Heaven so it will never fade. Having other significance is only icing on the cake.
Rob
LikeLike
Thanks Rob. Let’s finish our race well. Let’s live for Jesus’ acclaim rather than our own.
LikeLike