Leaving An Eternal Legacy

 By Larry Guido

Leaving “legacies” is something all of us do. We carefully think about our estates and our loved ones and friends. We meet with attorneys, and sometimes estate planning experts, and leave detailed instructions for the distribution of our worldly goods. These “goods” are usually items that we can “see and feel and touch or find on a balance sheet or some other legal document.” But, unfortunately, leaving a living legacy is something that few of us think about or plan. It simply “happens” as we go about our daily tasks and responsibilities – moving from one demand to another. We are rarely aware of or even think about the impact our behavior has on others until “after the fact.” These “impacts” we imprint on others are our legacy that lives on into eternity. 

Actually, I never thought about the fact that I was leaving a “living legacy” until I received a letter from my son John several years ago. “Dad,” the letter began, “I was thinking about you today, and the happiest I’ve ever seen you is when you were doing something good or helpful for other people. Someone like Johnny “G” when you got him into recovery for his addiction. It saved and changed his whole life and the lives of the members of his family for eternity. And did a lot of good for a lot of other people, too.” He made me very aware and very conscious of something I had been doing for seventy-five years – leaving a legacy in and on the lives of countless people I had touched. I never realized, much less thought about, the fact that I was directly impacting them in one way or another for eternity. I never considered that what I did had a significant impact on the life of others. I never thought I was that important.   

Jesus was well aware of the eternal legacy He was leaving. Included in His beautiful and majestic and powerful prayer in John’s Gospel, He included in that prayer to His Father, “I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do!” He did not speak of any of the miracles He had performed. Or, the people He had healed. Nor did He speak of the waves He had calmed, the dead He brought back to life, the countless thousands He encouraged or the training He gave His disciples or the outline of a prayer for us to follow when we pray. No! He spoke of the glory – His legacy – of obedience and faithfulness and willingness to do the will of His Father and thereby left His living legacy. 

If we accept the fact that God has planted a longing in every heart for the eternal, then it is the responsibility and obligation of each of us who profess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to present the Solution to this hunger – this spiritual longing - to everyone everywhere at all times and in all places in all that we do or say as we live out and leave behind our legacies. 

With this in mind – the fact that we are constantly leaving our legacy on the pages of history and in the lives of others - our behavior must become intentional – not random or unpredictable – but focused and centered on knowing Him and making Him known. In other words, live a life like Jesus lived, and do as Jesus did to fulfill the will of His Father in loving others, leading others and teaching others the “way and the truth that leads to eternal life.” Jesus’ entire life was focused and centered on leaving an eternal legacy that has impacted, is impacting and always will impact every life from the time He was conceived in His mother’s womb and throughout eternity.

I’ve thought about this for quite some time and have developed a “self-inventory” process and method to ask myself questions subjectively that will provide an objective picture of “who I am when I’m not consciously looking at myself.” A good place to start is a time analysis. Often I keep an hour by hour log of what I do from the time I arise in the morning until the time I go to bed at the end of the day. And, there is something subtle that always emerges in my time analysis: Who I spent time with. It is interesting to me to know who I look to for counsel, advice, insight, wisdom, and assistance as well as whose company I enjoy during my leisure hours. Who I allow to influence me is critical, for either their values become my values, or my values become their values. We never live in nor exit a relationship the way we were when it began. We leave a legacy on each other.  

My checkbook, debit card, and credit card records are also clear pictures of what we are all about. How much money we spend on what for why is a real sign of what we are living and working to achieve. In the final analysis, the use of my money speaks louder than I often wish it did. What we do with what God gives us reflects a powerful picture of the legacy we are leaving. 

Here is one more fact to consider: An indicator of the legacy we want to leave are the “heroes” whose lives we copy. My heroes are also revealed by the books and magazines I read, movies and TV programs I watch, people I talk about or quote, and use as resources or counselors. 

So, our legacy is what lives on in the hearts, minds, and lives of others by the way we live and the things we do with our lives. And, we are faced with one of two choices: One, we can decide and then determine to live a life that is focused on leaving an eternal legacy by living God-honoring, Christ-exalting and Spirit-filled lives, and investing our resources – time, talents, and treasures – in others by “gifting” who we are and what we have in them. Or, two, we can live a life that is self-centered, searching for self-recognition, and personal satisfaction, because we are self-focused.

Jesus said, “Come, follow Me” for “I have appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit.”

What will your legacy be?

March 2020