Legacy

Each time we transition presidents there's always talk about what legacy the outgoing president will leave. I guess if you're the president you may actually leave a significant legacy that history will remember, but how many of us will really make an impact so big that the world will remember us long after we're gone. This got me thinking, if that's the case, what will my legacy be?

For the most part, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about how the world will remember me, but like most people I do want my life to have had some kind of meaning. So for me, I guess I hope I'm remembered as a pastor who was able to see potential in people who didn't see it in themselves and was able to help a few find that. Maybe a few people might remember me as a person who tried his best to love people the way Jesus teaches us to in Matthew 22:39, especially those that were the hardest to love. I hope my family would remember me as a good husband, father, and I hope someday Grandpa, and maybe a few people might remember me as a good friend. But here's the reality, when I leave this earth, the world will go on and my memory will fade. Thinking about this led me to ask myself this question; when I'm gone, will be my legacy be, what I left in this world, or who I left in this world?

When it's all said and done, I hope my legacy will be leaving this world with three amazingly Godly young men who will hopefully accomplish a thousand times more for the cause of Jesus Christ than I did. Leaving Godly men in this world to carry on what I hope I have passed on to them, and for them to pass it on to future generations of our family and the Church, is really the only legacy that matters to me. 

Last night I was talking to my Mom and in our conversation she said that in her discussions with God recently she had been questioning Him about what her purpose was, and she said she came away feeling like God said her purpose was to have me because of the plan He has for my life. She has no idea how much that affected me! I'm humbled beyond words that the greatest Mom to ever step foot on this planet, yes I'm biased, feels like I'm her legacy. The cool thing about it is, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't get to feel the same way about the three legacies I'm getting to leave behind too.

What do you hope your legacy will be? I'm curios to hear how others see this. 

John

Comments

[Rindy Walton]

I definitely think legacy is about impact. What people remember fades so quickly that 5 yrs down the line, friends who could talk forever about you, describe you in one word.

Legacy is about life change. Who have I impacted enough to help shape who they are and how they impact others. My legacy?--that my guys become godly men not afraid to risk listening to God; and people experiencing that God can change, heal, and use anyone...and they show others...and it keeps going on...

[Dave Cotham]

I guess the best legacy I could leave would not be one of this world but of the one beyond. It's because of people who have turned from thinking of themselves, and instead think of their God and of others that I am able to say I can have an eternal legacy. Thanks John for your part in that! I would hope my legacy would be that Heaven is more full and Hell is more vacant because of something God has used me for in helping someone discover Jesus Christ and His Love and His Salvation.