REFLECTIONS

February 23rd, 2020

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 6:20

Trophies

Eric Liddell won the gold medal in the 400-meter race at the 1924 Olympic Games. He qualified to be there in a different event; but he refused to run in that event because it had been scheduled for Sunday. Even if it meant he could not compete at all, he honored God on Sundays.

Eric’s story is told in the 1981 movie, Chariots of Fire. Eric Liddell used his giftedness to win a trophy. “God made me fast,” he said, “When I run, I feel his pleasure.” But neither the subject of the movie nor the accolades for Eric’s life focus much on his Olympic treasure. Both are remembered for the strength of his commitment to glorify God.

Trophies. Who will want my trophies when I’m gone?  It gave me pause when I saw those words written somewhere. Who would? Trophies recognize personal achievements; some may even be impressive achievements. A few may represent marks made on the world; but mostly they represent personal achievements with no lasting contribution to anyone else’s life. Most trophies shine on display shelves for a time while they gather dust, tarnish, and are finally tossed away and forgotten.

Jesus said, “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…” What do we meaningfully leave to this world through the lives we live? Legacy we call it. Ultimately it seems, meaningful trophies reside in memories made. Not our memories; the memories others have of you and me. What little bit of yourself will others carry on from the life you live?

In some form, most of us carry on family traditions in loving memories of those who travelled before us. And those memories are driven out of respect for those we knew more than for those we only knew about. If we wish our memories to continue to honor the ancestors we knew, their qualities and values must be represented in our lives for others to see.

Eric Liddell’s Olympic treasure lives on today through a chain of memories of his commitment to glorify God. The root of them traces through a chain of memories linked to the love of Jesus Christ whose love for and obedience to the Father led to the cross. And because the Father’s love for you and me is so great that he gave his only Son that we might live.

The source of memories we each leave rests in what we lived.

There can be a treasured trophy waiting there.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org


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