Friday, October 15, 2010

Leaving A Legacy

I was riveted to the television Tuesday night after returning from speaking in Belzoni. After happening upon the first Chilean miner rescue, I couldn't turn off the set. I had to watch the second miner ascend to the surface, the third, and so on. To see the utter joy on each miner's face and to imagine what their family members were going through made me emotional. Each miner is sure to have a story to tell and each will leave a legacy based on their harrowing experience and how they made it through.

Job 5:7 says, "Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward." Your life and my life will be marked by suffering. None of us are immune. Some of our crisis will be small; some of them will go on for years. Some may even be permanent. But how will those rough patches, challenges, heart breaks and failures define your legacy?

After crossing the Jordan River, God told Joshua that they needed to remember how far He had brought them. God even did a miracle before them by stopping the flow up the river and having the waters pile up. Joshua told twelve men in Joshua 4:4, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

The Bible calls us to be intentional with our life, obedient, putting our faith in the Lord, consulting His will before every decision, seeking His heart and knowing Him more.

Think about the life you're living now. What will your legacy be to your children, your grandchildren, and so on? Through every victory and defeat you've encountered over the years and the years to come, will they be able to see the hand print of God on you?

1 comment:

Greg and Donna said...

Max Lucado has a book called "Outlive your Life" that has a wonderful, multi-generational vision.