am now, so shall you be,
Remember this and follow me.
Someone wrote a reply on the tombstone:
To follow you I am not content
Until I know which way you went.
On a tombstone in Georgia are these words:
I told you I was sick.
In a Thurmont, Maryland, cemetery, a tombstone has these blunt words:
Here lies an Atheist
All dressed up
And no place to go.
In a church near Cambridge, England, an Anglican priest is buried with this extraordinary plaque marking his grave:
Here lies Father William who served as vicar of this church for more than 30 years without the slightest trace of enthusiasm.
Well, what do you think? At the end of the day, what will people say about you? If they were totally candid, totally honest, how would your epitaph read? In the Talmud, it is suggested that to be successful in this life, you should plant a tree, have a child, or write a book. This is not to be taken in a strict, literal sense. What it means is this: At the end of the day, be sure you have done something that will be here after you're gone, something that outlasts you; be sure that you have exerted an influence for good in this life that lives on long after your days here are done.
Interestingly, the apostle Paul wrote his own epitaph. In 2 Timothy 4:6-8, we find these powerful words:
As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation [a drink offering to God], and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness.
Many scholars believe that this was Paul's last letter, written just a few days before he was executed by Nero— a tender moment when he realized that his days on this earth were coming to an end. Reflecting on his life, he wrote these touching words to express his confidence in God, to reassure his friends, and to summarize his life in one sentence: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
So, the question for us is this: At the end of the day, how will we be remembered? How will our lives be summed up? And, more pointedly, how well would our lives on this earth measure up to the apostle Paul's three-point formula for living? Let me be more specific by inviting you to think honestly about these three thoughts.
First of All, at the End of the Day, Will You Be Remembered as One Who Fought the Good Fight?
The word fight in the original Greek was agon, which gives us our word agony. Here, it means "I have given my all. I have stood tall for righteousness and goodness." It's the picture of an athlete leaving the field after having given a total and complete effort, physically drained, but knowing he has given his best, he has given his all. Paul was saying: "All that I am and all that I have, I have given to Christ and to his service; I have fought the good fight.
Many years ago, there was a movie called Stars in My Crown. It is the story of an older African American man who was a devout Christian. He owned a little farm outside a small southern town. Some precious metal was discovered on his property, and great pressure was brought upon him to sell the farm. But he refused to sell because he wanted to stay on the farm that his family had homesteaded. It was his home, and it had been the home of his parents and his grandparents. People, however, would not take no for an answer; they wanted to take advantage of him and cash in on the valuable resources on his farm. So they did everything they could to make him move. They criticized him openly and harshly. They burned down his barn. They shot bullets through his house. Eventually, they threatened to hang him at sundown.
A Methodist minister in the community heard about this and went to visit the older gentleman. While the minister was there, men from the town came out carrying blazing torches and wearing white hoods. The older man stepped out on the porch to face the mob. He was wearing his best clothes, the clothes he wore to church every Sunday. He said he was ready to die and that he had asked the minister to draw up his last will and testament. He then asked the minister to read his will aloud.
As the minister read the will, the mob was stunned because the older man was going to give everything he had to them. He willed the farm to the banker who seemed determined to get it from him any way he could. He gave his rifle to one of the white-hooded men in the crowd who happened to be the man who learned to hunt with this older man. To another, he gave his fishing rod. He literally gave everything he owned to those who wanted to kill him.
The impact on the mob was incredible. Seeing all this goodness and love given in the face of such hate and selfishness was more than they could stand. In shame and guilt and embarrassment, the men, one by one, turned away and went home, and in time, the entire lynch mob had disappeared.
While all this was happening, the grandson of the minister (who had come out to the farm with him) had been standing to the side of the porch, watching all of this with great curiosity. When the crowd left, he ran over to where his grandfather and the African American man were standing, and he said, "What kind of will was that?" The minister said, "That, my son, was the Will of God."
Indeed so! The will of God is for us to stand tall for what is good and right, but to do it in the spirit of love and grace, and to do it in the spirit of Christ. That's what it means to fight the good fight. The apostle Paul knew that Nero's "lynch mob" would be coming for him very soon, so he put on his clothes of righteousness and said, "Bring 'em on. I'm ready for anything, for Christ is my strength. It's okay. There is reserved for me a crown of righteousness in heaven. All that I am and all that I have, I have given to Christ and to his service; I have fought the good fight!"
Now, let me ask you something. Will you be able to say that at the end of the day? Will you be able to say, with the apostle Paul, "I have given my all for Christ. I have fought the good fight" ?
Second, at the End of the Day, Will You Be Remembered as One Who Finished the Race?
Paul said, "I have finished the race." Nobody can understand and appreciate that comment more than a marathon runner. There are several joggers in our church family, and a few of them have become marathon runners. They run over twenty-six miles in those marathon races, along with hundreds of other runners. Of course, every marathon race has a winner, but far more important to the dedicated marathon runner is completing the race.
A friend of ours recently traveled to New England to run for the first time in the famed Boston Marathon. She had no illusions of winning over the hundreds of other runners, but you cannot imagine the joy she felt in finishing the race. She did it. She made it. She ran the entire course. She completed the Boston Marathon, and she could not have been more elated. She finished the race.
The Christian life is like that. It is not a competition to outrun or outdo everybody else. It is a commitment to keep on running even when it's hard, to run all the way to the finish line.
Some years ago, a woman who had been a committed Christian for many years was seriously injured in a car wreck. The next morning, the doctors came into her hospital room and said, "We hate to tell you this, but we are going to have to remove your
