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A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children… — Proverbs 13:22
Webster’s Dictionary defines a legacy as “something coming from a predecessor”. Others will remember us by what we leave behind. As I have contemplated my predecessors and what their legacies have been to me, my mother comes quickly to mind.
Besides her sparkling wit, her commitment to world evangelism, her devotion to my father and her fierce loyalty to her children, the legacy that stands out above all else is the legacy of God’s Word. She loved it! She spent hours reading and studying it. At the end of her life, she was still memorizing passages from it. As a result, hers was a life well-lived. Because she didn’t just obey God’s Word, she also increasingly grew passionately in love with the One who is revealed in its pages.
Her legacy is summarized by the inscription she wrote in the flyleaf of the Bible she gave to me on the day I was baptized. It was a navy-blue Scofield King James Version that I treasure to this day. The inscription reads, To Anne, (Who on this January 13, 1957 publicly took her stand for Christ, her Savior). We give you this Book, your one sure guide in an unsure world. Read it, study it, love it, live it. In it you will find a verse for every occasion. Hide them in your heart. We love you. Mother
Her words could have been just inscriptions on a page, except for the fact that I saw them inscribed on her life. Their meaning is her legacy that ripples throughout my own life, my family and my ministry. Sixteen years after she moved to our Father’s House, her legacy is a spiritual inheritance that continues to bless her five children, 19 grandchildren, and over forty great-grandchildren…and beyond.
Which leads me to wonder…
What can I do today to make sure that I leave a rich spiritual inheritance for my children’s children tomorrow? What will be my legacy to those who come after me?
The counsel my mother gave me so long ago is one that has stood for a lifetime --it’s a legacy of faith that will stand. I want it to be my legacy also because it’s a sure foundation for those who come after me. It began for me in the log home of Western North Carolina where I was born and raised.
There's a long one-lane winding road that leads up to that home, the one I now refer to as my father's house. I know every curve, every foot along the way because when I was a child I was schooled down in the Valley. So I walked down this mountain every morning, and I walked back up this mountain every afternoon, five days a week.
But later in life when I moved away and had my own family, I would return to visit my parents in that same house. If I arrived after dark my mother would keep the light on near the driveway to let me know I was expected, and I was welcomed.
This home has always been a place where I felt welcomed, unconditionally loved, accepted, safe and comforted.
But the home is quite different today than it was during my childhood. All the sights and sounds of family activity are no longer here, because like many family homes - children grow up, move out, parents age and eventually pass on. And our homes can eventually become an empty shell.
What lives on is the eternal truth that was taught to me as a child. All the lessons I learned. Some were spoken, some were observed, some good, some difficult. Those were the truths that as a parent I sought to pass on to my children…and now my grandchildren… by my own words and by my example.
What are you passing on that has eternal value? Your legacy is not something to be thought about toward the end of your life, because whether you know it or not it's already begun. The good news is that you can start now, right where you are, to be a Jesus follower. You can model a faith that will influence the generations that come after you by incorporating into your life four characteristics introduced in our free summer study offered by FaithGateway: Your Witness, Your Worship, Your Walk, and Your Work. Don’t delay. Start now to build a legacy that lasts forever. You will be grateful that you did!
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JOIN ANNE AND RACHEL-RUTH ON JUNE 12TH AS WE DISCOVER TOGETHER HOW TO BE A JESUS FOLLOWER AND LEAVE A LEGACY FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.
