Will Your Life Be A Legacy?


In the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary and College Seminary News for August there is an article written by Dr. Rob Blackaby, President of the Seminary, entitled, The Power of a Legacy.

He gives a wonderful tribute to the life of his uncle, Dr. Henry Blackaby, and the influence he has had on people everywhere but specifically to this particular institution.

The first paragraph states: A legacy is the imprint that God has caused your life to leave on individuals, groups, and institutions. It is the lasting impression your life and story have had on the generations who will follow after you, with the marked desire to serve Christ and seek His Kingdom and His righteousness.

Most of us will not leave as large an imprint on life as Dr. Blackaby. However, God does have a plan for us and we should leave the imprint that He has ordained for us to leave.

Matthew 5:13-16 reads like this from The Message: Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste Godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

Here's another way to put it; You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand - shine!

Verse 16 - Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

Here are some examples of leaving legacies:

When our third son was a teenager my husband took him out to breakfast on saturday mornings and went through a Discipleship program with him. Then he did it again with our fourth son when he became a teenager. (Our first two children were already married when he started this)

We have friends who have inserted their own lives and faith into those of their grandchildren by spending time with them in which they talk about their faith, (i.e. fishing, shopping, playing games, talking on the telephone) they take them to church, listen to the stories of their lives and give Godly advice, etc.

Some parents do ministry with their children. That is, their children are directly involved instead of being left at home while the parents "do" ministry. Some pastor's kids help clean, help do the bulletin, bake cookies or muffins to take to shut-ins, help in the Praise Team, etc.

On her birthday my daughter invites a few friends to her house for "tea". She gives each one a gift and talks about how God has blessed her life. I love that.

My daughter-in-law (the one that lives in Sitka- not to put her on the spot or anything!) sends me a gift every year on my son's birthday. She always includes a card saying how much her life is blessed by being married to my son! I am incredibly blessed by this.

My husband received a letter from a friend thanking him for the example he was to him in High School.

I John 2:5-6 Whoever says he abides in God ought to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which Jesus walked and conducted Himself.

Dr. Rob Blackaby says, "This is how we perceive and know and recognize and receive assurance that we are in Christ. This mighty and prevailing life of God does not operate on us as a blind force, compelling us ignorantly or involuntarily to act like Christ. On the contrary, walking like Jesus must come as a result of a deliberate choice, sought in strong desire, accepted by a living will."

So, let us be salt and light. Let us live our lives deliberately. Let us leave a legacy!