We Will Be Forgotten…Eventually
We Will Be Forgotten…Eventually
And that might be the most freeing truth you hear today
I was at a meeting recently where the speaker dropped a sober truth bomb right into the middle of the room:
“There is going to come a day—sooner than I want to admit—where my leadership here will be done. There might be a picture of me on the history wall fifty or one hundred years from now. Maybe my name will appear in the organizational archives. But in a generation or so, no one will really remember me.”
Geez…thanks for the downer. That TED Talk isn’t going to get you invited back to the main stage. Then he got personal:
“Truth is, even my own family will get fuzzy. They might know me as a name on the family tree. I’ll pop up in a few historic family photo collages—but even my own bloodline won’t really remember me a generation or two from now.”
Man, this dude is not much on encouragement and inspiration, is he? But then he pivoted:
“So, let’s pour everything we have into this moment and move the needle on eternal things. Losing ourselves to the global glory of Jesus is the only thing that is guaranteed to last.”
The Freedom of Forgetting Ourselves
We all spend so much quiet energy trying to be seen, to matter, to be remembered. It’s a subtle motive with a massive impact that can manipulate and distort the ultimate purpose for our lives.
We fear being overlooked and forgotten. And constantly angling to fill that inward need can actually imprison us and keep us from living outward in love and service to others. It subjects us to the tyranny of self and distorts our true humanity.
Count Zinzendorf, a bishop of the Moravian Church, gave this charge to all the missionaries he sent out across the world:
“Preach the Gospel. Die. Be Forgotten.”
This is a jarring statement to our modern ears, but it’s actually beautifully liberating. It’s a call back to the life we were designed for.
You see—in Christ—we are fully known and never forgotten. This frees us to live radical lives centered on loving God and others and spending ourselves for the glory of Jesus in the world.
No manic striving necessary—you can trust Him. Your Creator won’t lose track of you.
“But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah 49:15–16)
What are you living for that will still matter in 1,000 years?
Erik Cooper
Erik began his career in the business world before spending twelve years in full-time ministry, serving on staff at a large suburban church and later as a church planter in downtown Indianapolis. Today, he serves as the President of a family of business-oriented nonprofit organizations that work together to mobilize the marketplace to make Jesus known in the world. He leads The Stone Table, which equips marketplace believers and invests in global mission initiatives, and Community Reinvestment Foundation, a nonprofit real estate company providing high-quality affordable housing in Indiana and directing its profits to missions through The Stone Table.
