Recently I attended my cousin Keith’s memorial service and it got me thinking about Legacy. At the service many people spoke of Keith’s life and their memories of him as a son, brother, father, soldier, rock music lover, honey-doer, and helicopter mechanic. Some even shared about conversations they had with him about God and Heaven.
We’ve all heard the
phrase, “You can’t take it with you” which reminds us we can only hope to leave
behind a part of ourselves – our legacy. Now, a legacy can indeed
be thought of as money or property as defined by Webster -1: a gift by
will especially of money or other personal property. However, I think
the most important legacy we leave behind is that something that becomes
of part of someone else. Here is the second definition found in Webster’s
Dictionary - 2: something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or
predecessor from the past.
Last summer I was
talking to my dad about this topic and he had an interesting point of view. He
stated the while he may not know his grandchildren’s friends and they may not
know him, he has passed along his faith through me and to my children which
they share with people they know. That seems like something we should
have realized but when we really sit down to ponder the far reaching
implications, we see how everything we do and say, and our very being, impacts
the lives of others. You can’t help it – you are a ripple in the world’s pool.
In the second
definition of Legacy it uses the terms “transmitted by” and “received
from”. This tells me that some things we intentionally give to
others “transmitted to” and somethings are just “received from” us by others…
without our effort!! This non-effort type of transmitting might include
things like mannerisms, artistic traits, speaking patterns, walking patterns,
our height or even the size of our nose. But what if it also included ill
will toward other races, twisted moral values, or speaking rudely to our
spouse? Because we are ripples in the pool, we need to be careful of what
we say and do. We are leaving a legacy, whether we intend to or not. 2
Timothy 4:1-22 ESV reads “I charge you in
the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the
dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom - preach the word. Be ready in
season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience
and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound
teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers
to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and
wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, enduring to do
the work and fulfill your calling.” I am particularly drawn to the
words used in this text “in season and out of season”. In other words,
are you nice to everyone or only when you’re on duty?
The terms used in
the second definition from Webster (“transmitted by” and “received from”) also
tells me that even if something is “transmitted” to us, we do not have to
receive it. We may not be able to control the genetic height we will
attain or the initial size of our nose but we can control our behavior to spite
what has been intentionally or accidentally transmitted. Transmitting can come
from many different sources as well.
Friends, teachers, bosses, co-workers can influence us and transmit
legacy vibes. Even if transmitted legacies do get imbedded in us we can rebuild
them into better ones to pass along to our children and to those we influence.
In Joshua 24:14-15 it reads “Now,
therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put
away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve
the Lord. If it seems undesirable to you to serve the Lord, choose this day
whom you will serve; whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond
the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord.” So, we can be encouraged that
some legacies do not have to be part of us – it’s a choice.
It doesn’t matter
if you came from a good home life or had some hard times as you grew up. Today,
as a believer, you are only found in Christ. You are a new creation – the old
is gone the new has come. Even if the new hasn’t quite made it all the
way into everything you do and say, it’s there. And tomorrow is also a
new day to start building a new legacy. Choose this day, whom you will serve.
God is faithful to keep you strong and on track. Listen to what was said to Israel
from God by Moses in Deuteronomy 6:5-7
“You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words
that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them
diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
It doesn’t say “you ought to” –
it says “you shall”!! Doesn’t sound like
there is any worry on God’s part on whether we will or we won’t so we shouldn’t
worry either.
Even Jesus is
praying for you. Hear these words from John 17:20-25 “I do not ask
for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through the word of
testimony. May they all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you,
that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent
me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one
even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly
one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you
loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with
me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me
before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, though
the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.”
Even after Keith was gone from the
earth his legacy spoke to each one of us at this service through the photos we
viewed, the stories shared, and listening to his favorite songs. Here is a link
to one of those songs: “Bent to Fly”.
This is our prayer
and declaration Lord
Hear the cry of our hearts!!
Therefore, I intend
always to remind others of Godly qualities, as you, oh Lord, keep me
established in the truth. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to
stir others up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body
is inevitable. And I will make every effort, so that after my departure, others
may be able, at any time, to recall the legacy of what we leave behind. (based
on 2 Peter 1:12-15)
