Leaving a Legacy

“The Light shines through the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it.” John 1:5 (N.L.T)

Leaving a legacy involves making a difference in the lives of others; our families, friends, neighbors, work colleagues, our country and the world. Life is short and so is the chance for us to pass on our faith to others. Many people spend a lot of time ensuring they leave property for their children. Many forget the enduring legacy of character and fear of God. The character of children depends on what is passed to them by their parents, guardians and the society around them. If we want them to grow spiritually we need to pass on the faith we have. As Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it”. We should not let generations that come after us be like Israel at the time of the judges. They had to relearn faithfulness to God again and again through His wrath and punishment. “After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel” Judges 2:10. We should be a light which ensures that evil does not overpower the good.

We can draw many lessons from people in the bible who left a lasting legacy; David teaches us to trust God in fighting the lions, bears and Goliaths in our lives, and how to give our very best to the Lord. He prepared the materials which his son Solomon would use to build a Temple for the Lord. Moses teaches us how God uses all our strengths and weaknesses to serve him. He taught Joshua how to depend on God in leading people, Elijah was a great influence to Elisha who wished for a double portion of his spirit to do God’s work., Naomi’s light shone on Ruth and Elizabeth mentored her young cousin Mary, Barnabas encouraged his floundering cousin Mark and cleared the way for Paul’s mission by convincing the other Apostles that Paul had received salvation; Paul mentored many including Titus and Timothy.

Leaving a legacy does not necessarily involve grand ideas or projects. Living a life of kindness, patience, hospitality, service to others, diligence at work and in whatever you do, love and respect for others, and ensuring justice for others never fail.

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“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

- Steve Jobs,

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