When I walk around the city, I like to look at the memorials and statues commemorating people who have shaped our state and nation. Adjacent to Hyde Park at the Elizabeth St and Bathurst St junction is a large obelisk erected in honour of George Thornton (1819 \u2013 1901). Thornton served as mayor of Sydney in 1853 and 1857, for which the obelisk was built. Other than his time in office he appears to have lived an ordinary life working in various capacities. Without any contribution to exploration, politics, or the arts, it does make the obelisk seem rather generous. What exactly is it commemorating? No disrespect to George Thornton who may have been a fine man, perhaps a plaque in the Sydney council chambers would have been more proportionate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It brings to mind 2 Sam 18:18, \u201c<\/em>Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up a pillar for himself, which is in the King’s Valley. For he said, “I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He called the pillar after his own name. And to this day it is called Absalom’s Monument<\/em>\u201d<\/em> <\/strong>UnlikeThornton, Absalom built his own monument. So keen was he to be remembered that he left a lasting tribute built in stone. But what did he actually achieve that was worth remembering?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Commemorative statue or not, everyone will be remembered by those who knew them or knew of them. Some people are remembered for all the wrong reasons; their notoriety is etched into our minds. It raises the question of how we will be remembered; what do we want to be remembered for. We do not need to achieve big things in order to leave behind a good reputation and a lasting legacy. It is the small and ordinary things which are most important. It is through the small and ordinary things that we make valuable contributions to the lives of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People are remembered for their words<\/strong>. The Bible continually draws attention to the powerful effect of words. Positively, we can speak the truth in love with a view to edification \u2013 words of friendship, encouragement, advice, correction when necessary. Prov 25:11, \u201cA word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n People are remembered for their works<\/strong> \u2013 lending a helping hand, providing in various ways according to need, sharing what they have, opening their home, making time for others. Matt 25:31-46 \u2013 in as much as you care for the Lord\u2019s saints you care for Christ Himself. This is the very fabric of true religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People are remembered for their ways<\/strong> \u2013 faithfulness, sacrifice, patience, perseverance, work ethic, joy, warmth, etc. Our lives speak volumes as we just go about our business day by day in a God honouring way. Unbeknown to us, we are actually helping to shape and encourage others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Virtuous conduct won\u2019t result in a monument built in your honour, but it will memorialise you in the hearts of those you blessed. Your legacy will motivate them to do the same. It will be recounted back to you in these words \u201cwell done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord\u201d <\/em>\u2013 the greatest commendation a person can receive. We will all be remembered, what will you be remembered for?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I walk around the city, I like to look at the memorials and statues commemorating people who have shaped our state and nation. Adjacent to Hyde Park at the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9065,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9064\/revisions\/9065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}