Eight weeks ago our small group opened a workbook called Mattering and started wrestling with one question: does my life actually matter? This week we reached the last chapter, and it ended with an assignment I didn’t see coming. Write your own eulogy.
I sat with a blank page longer than I want to admit. It’s a strange thing to imagine the people you love standing up to talk about you when you’re gone. What would they say? Not what I hope they’d say, but what they’d honestly say based on how I’m living right now.
I thought about the Young Life leader who took time to see a high school kid who wasn’t looking for God. I’d bet that leader has no idea how far one decision reached. My marriage, my kids, my granddaughter, the books, the songs, this very blog. It all traces back to someone who showed up. That’s when it hit me. The best part of a legacy usually doesn’t have your name on it.
Scripture
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21 NIV)
How I Understand This Scripture
The way I read this, Jesus isn’t just talking about money. He’s talking about what we build our lives on. Everything we chase falls into one of two piles: the kind that rusts and the kind that doesn’t. Titles, possessions, bank accounts, and trophies all rust. None of it makes the trip.
What lasts is what we pour into people. Every kind word, every hour of showing up, every prayer prayed for someone else. That’s treasure stored in heaven. I think that’s why Paul could write from a prison cell, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 NIV). He wasn’t afraid of the end because he had already sent his treasure on ahead.
And I notice the last line. Jesus says your heart follows your treasure. So if I want my heart in the right place, I have to start by putting my time, money, and attention in the right place.
My Reflection
Hospice workers say the dying rarely wish they’d owned more. They wish they’d loved more, said more, and stayed closer to the people who mattered. Nobody regrets giving too much. They regret the opposite.
The workbook put it simply. Spent lives die broke. Invested lives die rich.
Here’s what this study taught me. I’m already valued by God. That’s settled, and I don’t have to earn it. But the full, lasting life I’ve been looking for shows up when I start adding value to someone else.
So I’m asking myself two questions, and I’d ask you to sit with them too. First, who is different because I’ve been in their life? Take a minute and actually name them. Thank God for each one. Then the harder one: who should be on that list and isn’t yet?
That second name matters most. It’s where the next chapter of your legacy is waiting. The study is over, but the quest isn’t. You still have pages left, and it doesn’t matter how many. What matters is what you write on the next one.
Prayer
Father, thank You for seeing me and valuing me before I ever did anything to earn it. Thank You for the people You’ve let me be a small part of. Forgive me for the times I’ve chased treasure that rusts. Show me the name that should be on my list and give me the courage to show up for them this week. Let my life be poured out, not spent. Help me live today in a way that still matters long after I’m gone. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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