READING: 1 Chronicles 9-11
I tell students all the time, “How you leave a church matters more than how you arrived.” The church will forget how you arrived, but they’ll remember how you left. Leave in a spirit of peace that honors the church and celebrates God’s next place in your life, and the church will remember you as a person of peace and humility. Leave quickly without an explanation, or leave angrily with a trail of woundedness in your wake, and your departure will overshadow every good thing you did prior to leaving.
Broaden that perspective to life itself, and the issue is only magnified. King Saul is an example of this truth. He had started well, with the Spirit of the Lord coming upon him to such an extent that people thought he was one of the prophets (1 Sam 10:6-11). In the intervening years, though, he had progressively turned from God’s direction — and he would die in battle a most tragic figure: “Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse” (1 Chron 10:13-14).
The question of whether King Saul was a genuine follower of God is debated, but that’s not the point of this devotion. The point is that we are most often remembered by how we finish our race. That means that how I’ll be remembered will be based on (1) how I live today if the Lord calls me home this day, or (2) how I live tomorrow if the Lord grants me another day. So, I need to be faithful today, more faithful tomorrow, and even more faithful the day following. If I’m growing in Christ everyday, others will remember me for what Christ was doing in me even until my death.
ACTION STEPS:
- Make a conscious commitment today to end your journey well, whenever that day may be. You will end well if you choose to live well today.
- Unlike Saul, be faithful to the Lord and keep His Word.
PRAYER: “Lord, help me to end well. Help me to live faithfully today.”
TOMORROW’S READING: 1 Chronicles 12-14