***
In his book, The Road to Character, David Brooks makes a distinction between résumé virtues and eulogy virtues.
Résumé virtues are those things that define our lives externally – our test scores, the college we attended, the company we work for, our title.
Eulogy virtues, on the other hand, speak to our character – how kind, faithful, forgiving, and generous we have been.
This is what people remember at the end of our lives – how we’ve treated them.
This man in the Gospel dies condemned and alone because he only valued his résumé virtues – he valued his wealth – whereas Jesus urges us to consider how well we’ve treated one another.
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What are my résumé virtues? And, more importantly, what are my eulogy virtues?
What do I want people to say about me looking back over my life?
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“Be rich in what matters to God,” Jesus says.
Namely, be rich in love, because people will not remember how wealthy you were; they’ll remember how well you treated them.