Living for What Lasts (Proverbs 10:7)
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Proverbs 10:7
The memory of the righteous is a blessing,
but the name of the wicked will rot.
A long time ago someone asked me a question — and honestly, I can’t remember who it was or if I just stumbled into it myself — but it lodged itself in my imagination:
Are you living for your résumé, or for your eulogy?
When I first heard that, I was in college. And like many of us at that stage, I felt the constant pressure to build the résumé: to craft a life that looks impressive in a few bullet points.
Get the internship. Get the job. Get the recognition. Build the case for your own significance.
But Scripture gently — and sometimes not so gently — reminds us that these things are fragile. They don’t endure. One poet once wrote:
“One day this life will soon be past;
only what is done for Christ will last.”
And that’s where the eulogy comes in. Because at the end of your life, you won’t clutch your résumé. You won’t be thinking about LinkedIn endorsements or accolades.
What will remain is the kind of person you became — the shape of your character, the way you treated people, the quiet ways you pointed others toward something beyond yourself.
That’s exactly what the Proverb is saying:
“The memory of the righteous is a blessing.”
Meaning: a life rooted in God’s wisdom and God’s love leaves a kind of fragrance behind it. It blesses people long after you’re gone because it reflected Someone far more enduring than you.
But then the second line:
“The name of the wicked will rot.”
It’s stark. It’s blunt. But it’s simply saying that a self-centered life, no matter how impressive in the moment, eventually decays. It doesn’t nourish anyone. It doesn’t last.
So the real question is this:
What are you living for?
A résumé that will fade, or a life that points beyond itself?
A life built on achievement, or a life rooted in Christ’s grace and character?
Let this verse encourage you to live with Jesus not at the margins, but at the center — shaping what you value, how you love, and how you hope.
Let’s pray.
