Psalm 90:10 .... The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
No-one knows how long they shall live, I would love to think I will be here for at least a hundred or more years, but that is pushing the issue. It really doesn't matter how long, I remain on this earth, what matters to me most is where I will be going after my time here is finished and what I leave behind for my friends and loved ones.
I could amass a pile of gold, or perhaps hundreds of shares in Microsoft.....I could own blocks of houses, or an Island in the South Pacific....leaving these things behind for family and friends, but gee wiz they are just temporal. What I want to leave behind is something that will take a permanent place in their lives.
Leaving a legacy behind is something we all should be thinking about, the way we live our lives here on Earth will determine how we are remembered. Things come and go, but a legacy can change lives for ever. Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot. How can a life be changed by the way we live our lives? My brother in law was an alcoholic, for years, he conned so many, family members and friends even the area churches....when we were pasturing at Big Ridge, he called me at 2 o'clock in the morning, wanted me to take him to rehab. I did, it was a thirty minute drive, 45 miles south of our home, when we left him there we felt that we may have done something that changed his life.....HE BEAT US HOME!!!!! He was sitting on my door step with a beer in his hand....nothing changed...but one day about three months later, he called me to talk, I picked him up, as he had lost his driving privileges for ten years due to numerous DWI's and we drove out towards our little church.
Along the way, we passed by a dusty field it was in July, I looked at him and told him as sternly as I could, "we can go on to church or I can pull over and take you out in the middle of that filed and whoop you like a man, like you need..." we went on to church. It took some persuading, but once inside we talked, and before long we were at the altar...praying for his Salvation, demons were trying hard to stop him, his head turned coke can red, veins were popping out like pipelines and sweat was pouring down his face, but God won the war....he offered his soul to Him and in exchange God delivered him from alcohol right there on the spot. That was 17 years ago and he is still living for the Lord alcohol free....what a legacy .... he didn't ask to be delivered from his alcohol, God decided to bless him in a way that would change the lives of those around him for years to come, the new memories now out weighed the old ones.
We are all under observation. We are all being watched. The life you're living—like it or not—is going to be remembered. What kind of legacy will you leave? Will everyone remember the Righteousness of Christ in your life? Next time you are in the graveyard, look at those tombstones, see that little --- between the date of birth and the date of passing? That is your life....what is contained in that little line? On my tombstone I just want these simple words...." GONE TO BE WITH JESUS" now that is a legacy to leave behind.
