FORGOTTEN

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me: There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man. So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded. The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.

Ecclesiastes 9:13-17

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I want you to think about all the great things you have done in life. Take your time doing it because depending on how long you have lived, the list may be very long. You even may have to start writing things down because if you’ve done a lot, your mind can only retain so much.

OK, have you finished? How does your list look? Is it full of a lot of achievement and accomplishment, maybe with things you may have done for others sprinkled in?

Good. Now, I have one more question for you:

How many people remember what you have done outside of yourself?

Maybe some but the unfortunate reality of life is that things we do, no matter how great they may be, more often than not become forgotten. Most of history becomes lost to the past as life goes on.

We see an example of this truth in today’s scripture passage from some of the final verses of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 9. Look again at these words of God:

I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me: There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man. So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded. The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools. (vv 13-17)

It’s a sad story really but one that carries with it a sad statement about where we are today in our world. In it, we find a poor but wise man, the last person you may expect to save an entire city and its people under siege, doing just that. The city may have been small as was its population but the danger it was under was large.

Scripture tells us a powerful king came against the small town and built siege works, essentially a military blockade, against it. How could such a small town live to tell about this attack? The odds against it were seemingly insurmountable.

But the city was saved, not by some heroic, brave warrior that happened to live in the town and emerged to drive back the king and his army single-handedly, but rather by a poor man who used his wisdom to rescue the town and its people from harm. It had to be an amazing turn of events, one that people would never forget, one that people would honor year after year after year with remembrance celebrations.

That’s what you think may have happened but it didn’t.

For sadly, this poor wise man, who showed an entire town that through God-given wisdom the improbable can become probable, was not remembered. The memory of his life sustaining actions faded and disappeared.

So how does this tie to today, some 2,000 years later?

Think about it. How many people have forgotten Jesus today and what He did to save all of mankind?

It’s a true and very sad analogy which frames the dire state humanity is in.

Despite the full accounts in four books of the Bible about how Jesus freely gave Himself up as a living sacrifice, allowing Himself to be crucified in his early thirties to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind so that everyone might not perish but have the chance to live forever, people today largely live as if He never existed. Like the poor wise man, Jesus has been forgotten and even despised.

This is what is going to make His return amazing and sad, both at the same time. For Jesus came first as a loving Savior but when He comes again, it will be as a Judge of the world although a majority of the people will have no idea what is transpiring. Even when the King of kings and Lord of lords commands everyone to bow down before Him, most will not know who He is but after He is finished they will wish they did as they are sorted, the wicked from the righteous as goats from sheep (Matthew 25:31-46), before being cast into the sea of fire along with Satan (Revelation 20:7-15).

For some it will the best day ever but for most, it will simply be the end. Please don’t be counted among the most.

Today, you have a chance to come to know Jesus if you don’t already, a chance to seal your place with Him and God the Father forever. Won’t you make Jesus the Savior of your life and ensure that you will never be forgotten, especially at the Day of Judgment?

Given we don’t know the time of His return, don’t delay your decision. Seal your salvation and you’re your piece of heaven’s inheritance through Jesus right now.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com