Legacy.
It’s probably not a topic that comes up a lot when you sit around with your friends. “Hey, let’s talk about our legacy and the mark we will leave on our loved ones after we’re gone!”
However, it is most likely something that you think about from time to time. And that’s a good thing because it’s very important.
Your legacy is about you, but in a way that isn’t about you.
For example, consider Jesus’ parable of the rich fool. That’s where Jesus warns against putting too much hope and confidence in physical things. The man in the parable runs out of room for his goods, so he tears down his barns and builds bigger ones. Then he sits back to eat, drink and be merry.
Then things get very serious very fast: “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:20-21).
The key words are the last six: “and is not rich toward God.” To be clear, that’s what we need to be! “Rich toward God.”
So when I say that your legacy is about you, but in a way that isn’t about you, that’s what I mean. The more we focus on God, and the more we focus on who he wants us to be and how he wants us to live, the more faithful our legacy will be. And that is the best gift you can give to the generations that follow.
How are you rich toward God? Are you trusting him? Are you learning the teachings of Jesus? Are you sharing his love and truth? Are you bringing concerns to him in prayer? Are you exemplifying the goodness of God to the people he has put into your life?
That, my friends, is an all-star legacy.
Let’s heed the words of Jesus one last time: “God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
Notes:
-Bible quotes, ESV.
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