https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Chronicles+21&version=ESV

Have you ever wondered how you will be remembered? What will you leave behind when you leave this earth? What, of all the things that you spend your time on, will last?

Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, sure did a lot of stuff during his reign. He was only there 8 years but during that time he killed his brothers to try to secure his rule, he married an idolator and joined her in her idolatry, he lost a territory of David’s empire then he built high places and led all the people away from the Lord. In short, all the good that David and His godly descendants had accomplished, Jehoram tried to undo. He was a terrible, pathetic excuse for a king. God gave him a terrible end to his life. And how was he remembered? The people did not have a fire for him as they had for other kings. They did not bury him in the tombs of his fathers. And, “he departed with no one’s regret.” Jehoram spent all that time doing terrible things which earned him a terrible death, a terrible remembrance and, his works being an indication here of the state of his heart, a terrible eternal judgment. All his life was a waste.

Will yours be? Certainly much that we spend our time on is wasteful. Much that we strive for is not God pleasing. Much of it will not last. But through God’s grace, we have something that will – the kingdom of God. Jesus said that we should “store up treasures in heaven” and to “seek first the kingdom of God.” The time that we spend in God’s Word, reading, praying, sharing, this will not be a waste. The time that we spend caring for others, this will not be useless. The time that we spend with family or at work when it is spent out of love for Christ, this will not be forgotten. Even though Jehoram was so evil, God did not destroy his whole house as he did with the Israelite kings, he preserved the line for David’s sake. He did that because of His grace, His promise to send Jesus. And because He did, and because He died, and because He lives, you need not live the useless life that Jehoram lived; you need not receive the terrible end that he did. Seek first the kingdom of God, seek first His Word, His forgiveness, His love – these are the things that last forever.

In Christ
Pastor Ude