What is YOUR LEGACY?

 

Favorite Scriptures Day #3

What will you be remembered for?

What is YOUR LEGACY? We often think about that in terms of Presidents. They go through a brief period of time in leading our country. Yet, even in this four to eight year stretch of time, they can make a mighty impact for the good or the bad. For us AVERAGE JOES we have a lifetime to make an IMPACT, to change our community or to change our families. SO, the question:

"When you are gone, what do you want people to think about when they think of your name?"

I can think of family members in my life that obviously had a profound impact. MY DAD I remember as a God loving man, dedicated to his wife, his family, and he really had a quiet strength and comfort about him. For my grandfather, GRANDPA LEWIS, he was such a powerful preacher, but he also had a great sense of humor. I like to think I got my love of DUMB DAD JOKES from him. While my MOM is still alive, I always connect her with my DAD. She loved him so much and was so dedicated to him. That is her legacy, a strong devotion to Dad.

I remember one of my first pastor friends, TED BLOSSER. He married Stephanie and I. He was the first one to really help me connect with JESUS. I grew up with him, and I will always remember him as being fun, loving music, a guitar, and he had a deep devotion to his faith and sharing it with others. I am a part of his legacy!

Today, as we continue the TOUR OF MY FAVORITE SCRIPTURES, I come upon one of favorite PRAYERS of the bible. The Prayer of Jabez is definitely one of my favorites:

"'Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!'And God granted his request." (1 Chronicles 4:9-10, NLT)

I cannot tell you how powerful this prayer is. I have prayed it over and over again. Like Jabez, God has always answered my request.

I am always amazed that this famous prayer came from such an obscure man. His short, simple, prayer is remembered right alongside prayers of David, Moses, Paul, and the other greats of the Bible. Yet, we know nothing about him and his life. His life is hidden from history but his LEGACY lives on thousands of years after his life on earth. 

Of course, I do not dream of having that kind of legacy. My greatest prayer, my greatest desire is that MY LOVE OF JESUS will live on and it will multiply in generation after generation long after I have left this earth. And one of my greatest regrets in life is that I didn't focus on passing down my love of JESUS until later in life. I pray my grandkids, my great-grandkids, my friends, my family, my neighbors, my acquaintances will all REMEMBER ME as someone who LOVES JESUS and loved spreading the gospel.

My time on earth is shorter today than it was yesterday and the older I get the more I think about leaving my mark on the world. No, that is not out of some selfish, egotistical desire, it is out of my growing desire to see God in the center of our world. I want my mark to be that OTHERS will KNOW and SHARE JESUS. 

Please Lord, like Jabez, help me spread the gospel message. Help me to expand my territory. Help me to be effective sharing your love, your grace, and your mercy to the next generation so that they also will share it when I am long gone. Please help me to get others to focus ONLY on you and let others see your LIGHT in such a dark world. AMEN!

"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destory and thieves do not break in an steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." (Matthew 6:19-21, NLT)