Precious Memories

The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot. (Proverbs 10:7)

Precious memories...How they linger. These words to an old song are provocative to my mind as I read and reflect on this verse. The memories of the righteous are blessed because they are precious. Of all the human beings that have ever lived, this is a glorious truth. The righteous ones have been so precious and so very few…they have been rare. The rarity and scarcity of precious things make them valued. People who have been righteous have only become righteous through God, through Christ. And when they are present in our midst, we all know that they are uncommon among men. Therefore when they leave us and we remember them, the memory of those who were righteous among us is indeed a blessed memory…a precious memory. A smile will often appear when the righteous ones are remembered. In contrast, we see something different in the remembering of the wicked. Wicked people’s names will not only be forgotten, they will rot. That is a powerful thought. How does a name rot? Think with me about a piece of fruit, cut off from the source of life. This fruit will begin to decompose…it will begin to stink…it will decay and deteriorate. If we were to taste the rotten piece of fruit it may very well cause our bodies to react violently and reject it, bringing with it waves of nausea. If we become sick enough, we may vow never to eat of that kind of fruit again. This may be a little overreaction, but it will insure that we will not be poisoned...at least by that kind of fruit.  The taste of rotten fruit may be so offensive that we may continue to think that we taste it long after the experience is over. So what does this have to do with a name? The name of the wicked? Wicked people leave such a sorry legacy it’s like a bad taste in the mouth. We want to forget hearing the name…or dealing with what this person leaves behind. Even his family may so resent the wickedness, that they stop talking about him…as his memory fades away…and rots like a decomposing piece of decaying fruit. And over time someone may be hardpressed to remember that once there was a bad piece of fruit that was cast down to the ground. It's all rotted away.  So it is with the wicked. Their name, their identity and influence, will decay as the word of the Lord declares, and people will not speak of them again. It will be as though they never existed. It’s possible to live your whole life and be forgotten. It’s possible to have your very name spoken and spat out as so much poison on someone else's lips. What is not possible is to live as a righteous person without leaving a godly legacy…and precious memories. And to live righteously means that the seed of Christ’s righteousness is growing in you. Sadly, I was spoiled rotten as a human being...then Jesus breathed life into me. Make some blessed memories for others to remember…Be a blessing…Remember Christ, the Righteous One. The Lord did not allow His Holy One to suffer decay…and be blessed in the memory of what He has done for you and is now doing within you.  Life is precious...when we live it to God's glory, it leaves a mark in the memory of others...a blessed impression!