“Let it be said of me…”

I love the song “The Blessing” by John Waller

Everytime I hear it I think of my dad and my father-in-law.  The first few lines are:

“Let it be said of us while we walked among the living,

Let it be said of us by the ones we leave behind

Let it be said of us that we lived to be a blessing for life”

This is my dad and my father-in-law.  The ones they left behind count it a blessing to have known them as husband, father, brother, and friend.  Click on the link below and remember those who have gone before you and were a blessing to you.

http://youtu.be/NJJR4F3uqEQ

Have you ever really pondered what other’s will say of you?  What is the legacy of your name, of your person, of who you are?  Stop for a moment and give an honest answer to those questions.  “Let it be said of me…”  I know what I would like for my family and my friends to say of me.  I want them to know I am a Christian.  I am Christ likeness in a lost and dying world.  I want them to know I love my God and I love my family and I live to serve my King.  That is what I want them to say of me.  But is that what they will say of me?  They will if that is how I live my life before them every day.

“Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named his Seth, saying “God has granted me another child in place of Abel since Cain killed him.”  Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.  At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD.”  GENESIS 4:25-26

Let’s look first at Cain’s legacy.  What was it?  Cain the first murderer.  Cain the wanderer.  Cain the first to declare his independence from the Lord.  Cain the first to declare he can live life without the LORD’S help.  Cain the first city builder.  This is where Cain’s claim to fame stops.  The LORD chose not to speak of Cain or of his descendants again after Genesis 4.  The lineage of Cain is forgotten after this chapter.  I rephrase my statement though.  The LORD chose not to speak of Cain ever again in His written word except in a negative light.

“We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother.  And why did he kill him?  Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous.”  1 John 3:12 NLT

“What sorrow awaits them!  For they follow in the footsteps of Cain, who killed his brother.  Like Ballam, they deceive people for money.  And like Korah, they perish in their rebellion.”  Jude 1:11

Not much of a legacy.  It ranks right up there with Hitler, Son of Sam, the 911 murderers, you get my point.  The LORD says of him, “Cain belonged to the evil one, and Cain had been doing what was evil.”  The LORD says, “What sorrow awaits them.”  Let’s move past what people will say of us.  I think the number one question here is, “What will the Lord say of us as we stand before His judgment seat at the end if time?  What will His book reveal about how I spent my fleeting days on earth?”  I am definitely looking around making sure I am not in the same line as Cain who killed his brother Abel.

“On judgment day many will say to me, “LORD! LORD! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.  But I will reply, “I never knew you.  Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.”  Matthew 7:22-23

Now compare Cain’s lineage to that of Seth.  I ask you a question.  When you come to chapters in the bible that just have verse after verse of peoples names and ancestry, what do you do?  Do you have a tendency to skim over it?  I know I do.  But I am learning these chapters are quite important. Luke 3:23-38 lists the ancestry of Jesus on Joseph’s side of the family.  Read verse 38.  Which son of Adam is recorded in the lineage of Jesus, Cain or Seth?  “Let it be said of me…”  Seth can say I am the ancestor of the Son of God/Son of Man.  Seth can say after the birth of his son, Enosh, he led his people to worship and call upon the name of the LORD.  That is what I want it to be said of me.  “I encouraged people to worship God.”