For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
the days have already come when both have been forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise too must die!

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For people may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to others who have not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. People can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.

—Ecclesiastes 2:16-26 (TNIV)

Here the old preacher reminds us that we had best get our priorities straight. For those who focus on things of this world, the outcome is the same: death. All that we work for, all that we strive to do and be, our legacies and ambitions are all destined to die along with us. As I apply this to my own life, I sometimes try to delude myself and think that those whom I have taught will remember me after I have died. Perhaps they will, but only until they die and then I will be remembered no more.

But for those who put their trust in Christ, this is not our end. We have a glorious destiny awaiting us because we have been washed clean by the blood of Christ and made fit to live in God’s Presence forever. We will not be forgotten because as the old prophet reminds us, “Can a woman forget her infant? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, I have written your name in the palm of my hand (Isaiah 49:15-16).

This is our hope and our destiny. This is what motivates Christians to keep their eyes on the prize that is Christ Jesus. This world is finite and mortal. The God who created us, loves us, and claims us in Christ is infinite and eternal. Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ!