Marry a Classic

Read

Proverbs 31:30 “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

Think

I conducted two funerals recently that I have not been able to stop thinking about. The first was for a multi-billionaire. His family asked me to speak, and I said yes because I had known them for a while. I sat in a large chair at the front of a church, looking out at a room full of famous, well-dressed, well-connected people. Speaker after speaker talked about his intellect, his private 737, the islands he owned, the real estate around the world, the companies he had built. Then they talked about his wives, his kids, his grandkids, his great-grandkids. And that was it. I sat there thinking, “So that is the meaning of life? Recreate, procreate, do deals, and die?” I walked away from that funeral despondent. Almost depressed.

The second funeral was at Fellowship Church. The family did not have billions. They were working-class people who lived in a little house in South Irving. There were no celebrities in the room. Maybe 80 or 90 people showed up. But the speakers said things like this: this man loved the Lord with great passion. This man wanted to see people come to Christ. He was a founding member of Fellowship Church. He led our parking crew for two decades. They described his 60-some-year marriage, his faithfulness to his wife, his family, his church. I left that funeral and thought, “What a contrast.”

How much did the first man leave? He left everything. How much did the second man leave? He left a legacy. And in God’s economy, a legacy built on faithfulness outweighs any portfolio, any empire, any private jet.

Solomon understood this. A man who had more wealth and more women and more power than both of those men combined wrote these words: “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Think about what he is saying. Charm lies to you. It tells you someone is trustworthy when they are not. Beauty is on a timer. It runs out. The only thing that endures, the only thing worth building your life around, is reverence for God.

I have said this many times: what you use to get them is what you use to keep them. If you attracted someone with your looks, you had better keep looking good, because eventually someone younger and more attractive will come along. If you attracted someone with your money, you had better keep earning, because the moment the money dries up, so does the loyalty it purchased. If you attracted someone with charm and personality, those things will carry you for a season. But eventually, every surface-level attraction runs its course.

What carries a relationship across decades? Character. Integrity. Faithfulness. The willingness to show up on the hard days, not just the good ones. The decision to be the same person at home that you are in public. That is what makes someone a classic.

Think about this. The man in the first funeral had everything the world could offer. He could fly anywhere on his own jet. He could buy anything. He had influence, access, power. But when the speakers were done, I could not point to a single thing he left behind that would outlive him. The second man could not have bought a first-class ticket, let alone a 737. But he left something that money cannot purchase. He left people whose lives were different because he showed up every single Sunday for twenty years and parked their cars with a smile. That is legacy. That is what lasts.

A Rolls Royce is a classic. It does not go out of style. It does not depreciate the way a trendy sports car does. And the reason it endures is not the paint job. It is the engineering, the craftsmanship, the integrity of the build. People are the same way. Character is the engineering. Integrity is the craftsmanship. A life built on those things only appreciates with time.

When we got married, some of us looked our absolute best. Everything tight, everything smooth. Fast-forward a few years and the six-pack has become a spare tire. Some of us have hail damage. That is real. That is life. We only look our best for about five years anyway, so let us just be honest about that. But if your relationship is built on character, on reverence for God, on the kind of love that fears the Lord and serves others, it only gets better. Classics do not depreciate. They appreciate.

Two funerals. Two legacies. One man had everything the world celebrates. The other had everything God honors. The question is not how much you will leave behind. The question is what will people say when you are gone. Will they talk about your net worth or your faithfulness? Be a classic. Because classics never go out of style.

Apply

Build for legacy – Write down three words you want people to use to describe you at the end of your life. Now evaluate honestly: are you living in a way that earns those words today? Pick one area where your daily actions do not match your desired legacy, and make one change this week.

Pray

Father, I do not want to leave everything. I want to leave a legacy. Forgive me for the times I have chased charm and neglected character. Build in me the kind of faithfulness that lasts across decades, the kind that fears you and serves the people you have placed in my life. I want to be a classic, not because the world notices, but because you are honored. Help me to live today in a way that echoes into eternity. In Jesus’ name. Amen.