When my kids were high school age, I asked them if they knew any Frank Sinatra songs. My expectation that at least one of them would break into “I did it my way,” was met with collective silence; not one of them knew a thing about “Old Blue Eyes.”
Of course, it just highlighted the fact that “generations come and generations go” (Ecclesiastes 1:4). I’m sure that even Frank would smile to find out that, because of my kids, I came to know more words from Avril Lavigne’s song, “Complicated,” than I ever did of “Strangers in the night.”
Solomon matter-of-factly spells it out for everyone: “There will be no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow” (Ecclesiastes 1:11).
Consequently, even Avril will one day join Frank in the ‘League of the Forgotten;’ as will we.
Yes, this is designed to be sobering, but never depressing. We so easily forget that the goodness that Christians enjoy is a direct result of the blessings from The Christ we follow. His guidance has made life thrive where it was previously unbearable. Where once our worldly problems caused us to desperately seek the Lord’s presence, we now find ourselves comforted and in no hurry to meet him face to face.
Of old, God thought nothing of removing His protections from the Israelites when they forgot the source of all their good things. It was when prosperity turned into famine, war, plague or pestilence, that the children of God woke up to the consequences of their greed and pride.
Worldly people, often motivated by self-gratification and self-preservation, do not judge with “Righteous Judgement.” How can they?
However, Christians live by a completely different standard. Our minds are set heavenward, so our actions ever reflect that inevitability.
With this goal in mind we keep our judgements righteous:
“For God will bring every deed into judgement including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
John Staiger
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