When thinking about our legacy in life, I believe that most of us think of what we are leaving behind. The mark we have made throughout our life that remains to be viewed as a dent in this world. It may be something that pertains to family or could be something that has changed the direction of someone’s life.
We all want to leave something good and pure that will be remembered and is significant enough to be known as a mark or evidence in time that made a difference in this world. I believe that most of the time we think of family. We ask ourselves, what can we leave to our extended family that will help them after we are gone?
It is not money or gifts but an impression or moment in time that is engraved into their memory that shares joy, laughter, or wisdom. It is a thought of “remember when” that could be passed on down throughout your family tree of life.
The question is, are we thinking big enough? If we only think of the immediate family and what our legacy is to them, I believe that we have missed part of God’s purpose. I believe that we all have the ability to leave a legacy that can reach beyond our borders.
Something that will show proof of our existence and confirmation of God’s purpose in our life and for this world. We should be aiming as high as we can to leave a legacy much greater than what our mind can imagine but what our faith can demonstrate.
Think of the incredible legacy that God has left for us -- the evidence and confirmation of His great love and amazing grace. Picture for a moment how God created the world. We can’t even imagine His creative thought through His love for the existence of man and how He gave us the wonder and honor to live and see His work.
How He laid out the great mountains throughout the world. Can we even take in how He carved Mt. Everest or sculpted even the sand that lays in various parts of this earth?
How about the oceans, rivers, and streams that are not only forged from His mind but filled with the life of millions of creatures, each created in a unique way and each having a purpose. Each part of the world created in such a remarkable and exclusive way that we all can see the evidence of His hand.
Now think of the sun, moon, and stars in the sky that are the umbrella of our days and nights giving us warmth and light to navigate each day, not to mention the rain that renews, refreshes, and brings new live throughout the entire earth.
Just take a moment and step outside and breath in the air and view the trees as the wind brushes across your face, then grasp just a fraction of the legacy God has left for us. It is everywhere!
Most of all, He sent His son to die for us so we could live with Him forever. He provides a way, a door that we could not provide on our own but receive freely by just accepting what is truth from a miraculous God of mercy.
What did He leave as His legacy? Miracles happening every day, healing beyond our comprehension, the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us by the moment, spiritual gifts to exercise and share with others as they minister to us, answered prayer when we call and when we need an answer in just the right time -- His time!
What could be greater than to leave us His Word, the assurance of His existence and love for man? From the first breath He bestowed upon Adam to all throughout His living Words of life, we have the Bible to live by, to embrace, learn, and understand just a fraction of how great His love He is for us.
There is no greater legacy! It is important for us to leave what legacy we can to our children -- our voice, our actions, and most of all God’s love which He so profoundly provided for just that purpose.
Let us leave, this legacy!
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So, the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So, the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So, the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
