What legacy will you want to leave behind? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
My boss at the seminary post office likes to listen to older music on records and he has a record player in there hooked up to a sound system. I came in Monday and heard a song I didn’t recognize and I was told it was Gordon Lightfoot singing. The song was Approaching Lavender, which I came to enjoy.
Then I got home that evening and right before going to bed I learned that Gordon Lightfoot had died that day.
So I listened to that song one more time on my Alexa before I went to bed.
I am not saying that Gordon Lightfoot was a Christian. I do not know. I do know that he will be remembered for a lot of great music. Of course, if he wasn’t a Christian, it won’t count anything for him eternally, but when people think about the death of Lightfoot, they will think of music.
Meanwhile, just recently also, Jerry Springer died. If I think about his legacy, what will I think of? I will think of a show with a bunch of people sleeping around and acting as dumb as possible and throwing chairs at one another with security guards restraining them and the crowd chanting “JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!”
I know Jerry Springer did other things like being a mayor and hosting other shows like the game show Baggage, but what he will be remembered for is the show named after him.
This has left me thinking about this kind of topic and it’s something we need to think about. How will we be remembered? There are many people today we know as saints and we know them for how they lived. There are many people who were Christians and we don’t know them explicitly for being Christians, but they also made significant contributions in other fields.
Many of us will live simple lives, but even then, we can leave a great legacy. All we know about Hannah was that she was a faithful woman who gave birth to Samuel, but she left behind that legacy. For many people, their memory will be of them as a loving spouse and parent. If you’re single, you can be remembered also for your contribution to your community and how you treated your neighbors.
Today also, it’s even easier to leave a legacy. I encourage people who are grandparents to start making YouTube videos that can be kept private to leave behind for their grandchildren and their children as well. They can get to actually see you speaking and know what you looked like and your voice. It can be a treasure for them. Just tell them about your life today and what the world is like today.
We may think our lives are mundane, but in the end, we will all be remembered and if we do nothing to make a difference with this life, we will not be remembered long. Think about your legacy today. Think about how you want to be remembered.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)