legacy >noun (pl. legacies) 1 an amount of money or property left to someone in a will. 2 something handed down by a predecessor.
Psalm 100:
1 Shout with joy to the LORD, O earth! 2 Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. 3 Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. 5 For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
God's love and commitment is new to each generation
Every generation, every group of kids has a new opportunity with God.
How do the next generations, our kids, learn about God's love and commitment to them?
How did you learn about God's love? through people?
You see, we create a legacy, something handed down.
You are in the process of creating a legacy for those who will follow after you.
Creating a legacy isn't only for those who are married or those who have children. Everyone leaves a legacy.
A grade one teacher thought this shy quiet retiring kid would make it just fine in the big bold world of education. And, because I was naive, I believed her. Her belief in me got me through many educational close calls.
As a teenager stuck in cycles of depression and darkness, one of the youth leaders I knew took an interest in me. She, a single lady all her life, listened to me. Took time, bought me a shake, and listened. She invited me to a youth bible study she had at her home once a month. And I went. And life became lighter.
As an 18 year old not sure of direction for my life, it was my parents who taught me that when God called, you went. And on that cool September morning when my bus left for college, my parents, with my siblings and all their possessions packed into a moving truck, headed east to Ontario where God had called them to be the first youth leaders of a church.
As a gawky 22 year old college student , Lauralea loved me enough to say ?I do? and she has. She has taught me love and patience and grace and mercy. She has been God's constant reminder to me that He loves me.
As a 25 year old, entering the ministry full time as a pastor doing church planting stuff. I was terror struck and dumbfounded, till my grandparents come up to me and spoke the words to me; ?We will pray for you every day.?
Each story a legacy to me. A Legacy of hope, of life, of love. And God's fingerprints are all over them.
They have poured themselves into my life.
God loves and blesses each generation again and again. And he does it through people. Through others. Through relationships.
His faithfulness is expressed to each generation.
What legacies are you leaving behind?
ReplyDeleteI found these wonderful articles on Prayer, on Bible Study, and on Holiness by that great Anglican bishop of two centuries ago, John Charles Ryle, over at the http://www.torontochristianbooks.com site. Well, well worth reading!
Here's the linking quote from their index page:
"We also warmly recommend these superb writings, "Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." by John Charles Ryle, "Bible Reading" by John Charles Ryle, and "A Call To Prayer" by John Charles Ryle, to our readers. You'll find a selection of J.C. Ryle's books below them, on the same pages. They make for some of the most profitable, edifying, encouraging and uplifting Christian books available, and are classics which have stood the test of time!"
Legacies - that is a good subject for a birthday and I missed it!
ReplyDeleteBut this morning I was reading Psalm 71. Thought this was pertinent to leaving a legacy - verses 17 and 18.
"O God you have taught me from my earliest childhood,
And I have constantly told others about the wonderful things you do.
Now that I am old and grey,do not abandon me, O God.
Let me proclaim your power to this new generation,
Your mighty miracles to all who come after me."
Unfortunately, the old and grey stuff seems to apply too well!