When you die, will your life be worth remembering? We might think that if, at death, we look back on a long life filled with friends, success, and comfort, then that will be a life we can look back on with satisfaction. But in Luke 16, Jesus tells the parable of a rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus. The rich man led a comfortable life, but he found himself in torment when he died. When he begged for help, Abraham answered the man, “…remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.”
If we live only for this world, we may find comfort and pleasure. But the memories of earthly comforts won’t alleviate eternal torment. If we live for the Lord, even if our lives are filled with difficulty and hardship, that life will be worth far more than memories, for it will lead us to the Lord’s eternal presence.