Your Legacy

     I must admit that I am somewhat of a bibliophile. Don’t worry it is neither fatal nor contagious.  It just means that I love books.  There is just something about holding a book, that may be several hundred years old and reading it knowing that you are entertaining the thoughts and ideas of someone that has been long gone from this earth.  To hold the scriptures in your hands and know the will and nature of God is another level altogether (blog for a future time).  Some of the books in my library that I cherish most are books that once belonged to my grandfather or books that my father has passed on to me.  All of us have something, not necessarily a book, that has been passed on to us from a family member or friend that has left this life behind.  We remember fondly those that are gone when we hold these mementoes.  When the time comes there will be things that we leave behind to those that we love and cherish.  If we would admit it we all have a desire to be remembered.  Over the years men have tried to do this through various avenues.  Some have erected great monuments others have written great literature or painted great works of art.  Most of us will never fall into one of these categories.  So what can I leave behind that will be remembered?  The greatest gift that we can leave to those in the generations to follow cannot be held in the hand or bequeathed to an individual in our will. 

     There are two men in the scriptures whose lives are in stark contrast to one another.  After the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam divides the kingdom because of his indifference to the burdens of the people and poor advice he receives from his peers (1Kings 12).  Rehoboam remains king over part of the kingdom and Jeroboam becomes king over the other part.  For fear that the people would eventually return to Rehoboam one of the first official acts that Jeroboam does as king is to set up two golden calves and presents them to the people as,  “behold thy gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (1Kings 12:28).  This was a legacy of sin that Jeroboam would pass to all the generation that would come after him.  This legacy would be such bitterness to God that he would give them up.  And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin (1Kings 14:16).  Then we have David, though he was not a perfect man, he did live in such a way that he is referred to as a man after God’s own heart (1Sam.13:13-14, Acts 13:22).  David leaves a legacy of obedience to God.  And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel (1Kings 9:4-5).  Often Israel would have been destroyed if it had not been for the righteousness of David.  Nevertheless for David's sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem (1Kings 15:4).

     There are many things we could leave as an inheritance to those that follow after us but there is not a more powerful legacy that we can leave than our example.  Good or bad it will have consequences that you cannot imagine.  With all that Leonardo da Vinci achieved in his life he wrote in one of his final note books, “I have wasted my hours.”  Will you have wasted your hours here and leave an example that will be a detriment to others or will you live in such a way that other will be able to partake in the protection, blessings, and joys that are only found in being a child of God?