When I teach a men’s Bible study or Sunday School class, one of the things I do is to ask for a show of hands for every man who knows the names of all his grandparents. Every hand in the room goes up. But when I follow that question with, “how many of you know the names of all your great grandparents?” fewer hands are raised. And when I ask the same question regarding great-great grandparents, almost no one in the room raises a hand.
What is my point? It’s simply this. It seems that most of us tend to know the names of our ancestors up to two generations, and after that things get a little cloudy. I suspect that the same will be true of those who follow us. We will likely be remembered by our children and our grandchildren. They are our legacy. Let me repeat that. Your legacy and my legacy will be our children and our grandchildren. That’s pretty much it. The possibility that we will be remembered beyond that is very slim. The possibility of our great grandchildren knowing our names or what we did in life is not certain. I realize this is a generalization, and there are exceptions, but I believe this will be the case more often than not.
So, what does this mean for the believer, for the follower of Christ? It simply means that we have a strong obligation to live our lives in such a way that our daily walk is a godly example for the generation that follows us and for the generation that follows them. This is our legacy. This is our first mission field.
A legacy that endures for only two generations is not a cause for despair. The opposite is true. It’s something to celebrate! Scripture has this to say about a person’s legacy (all verses are taken from the NASB translation). “One generation will praise Your works to another, and will declare Your mighty acts.” (Psalm 145:4 NASB) Read that again. If your math is like mine, that adds up to two generations.
Also, we read the following, “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting for those who fear Him, and His justice to the children’s children, to those who keep His covenant and remember His precepts, so as to do them.” (Psalm 103:17-18)
And one of my favorites. “Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.” (Proverbs 17:6)
Do you see the trend? Yes, the Bible contains long lists of genealogy, and there is a purpose for that. But with rare exceptions, those are not legacies.
I am fast approaching my 73rd birthday. And as I look back over my life, I have been blessed beyond words, all due to God’s grace. Totally undeserved. Totally due to His favor in my life. And I realize that many of those things I planned to accomplish when I was twenty never came about. Like others of that age, I was going to change the world. I was going to accomplish remarkable things.
Now I have come to realize that any good and important things in my life are due to God’s grace and purpose for my life. I understand that my legacy will not be great accomplishments in the eyes of men. It will be determined by how I have led my family, my wife, my children and my seven grandchildren. My purpose begins there.
Leaving the right legacy for them is a great responsibility. I have failed often, and I still think about the times I have come up short. But we can’t let past failures blind us to future opportunities. If we fail today, we should repent, pick up the pieces, and move forward. We must try harder tomorrow. And the next day. That may sound like a cliché, but it’s true. It’s our only alternative.
God’s grace allows us to begin anew each day (Lamentations 3:22-23). That means that each day I can improve on my legacy as God allows me to live out His grace by being an example to those around me. That includes everyone who crosses my path, whether at work, at church or in the marketplace. But it centers around those who live in my household, grew up in my household, and who are now in the household of my children.
May God grant me mercy, grace, and wisdom to serve them and to be the example that would encourage each of them to follow Him. That is my prayer for my life and for yours.
Press forward!