The legacy you leave tomorrow is determined in part by the life you live today. And yet, our earthly legacies are influenced and colored by the perceptions and interpretations of others who evaluate what we have done. This means that we do not have the final say concerning the earthly legacy we leave behind. But we do have the final say regarding the life we live today. If that life is lived in obedience to God, we will be scoring high marks in heaven where it matters most, even if we are despised on earth. And even if up to this point, the life you’ve lived is not the life for which you want to be remembered, it is not too late to repent, retract, and retread.
So should the desire to leave a likeable legacy behind be the driving force for how we live today? Definitely not. There are far greater and loftier motivations for how we should live today. One such motivation is a genuine love for people. For the Christian, this ought to be very easy. This is at the heart of the Christian philosophy.
Our salvation transaction saw us starting out as helpless sinners condemned to an eternity away from God, and ending up as Sons of God and joint heirs with Christ and fellow citizens of heaven. We are very aware that we had absolutely nothing to do with this transaction. It was God who sought us, brought us and confirmed us into His family of sons and daughters. We truly understand that there is nothing in our salvation for us to boast about, because none of it was due to our works of righteousness. Because we have been forgiven so much, God expects us to love much (Luke 7:36-48). This sense of total gratitude to God for His mercy towards us, should predispose us to love and care for others who, as far as we know, could respond to the good news of salvation and be saved as we are. For the same reason, we are also predisposed to be forgiving to our fellow believers because we are all part of the same body (1 Corinthians 12:26; Galatians 6:1)
For the Child of God, loving others is not optional. It is mandatory. We are to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves (Luke 10:25-28). We are to love our enemies (Luke 6:27-36). We are to love each other just as Christ loves us (Luke 13:34-35) In such an overwhelming environment of love, and open to the direction of God’s Holy Spirit, we will accomplish His purpose for our lives.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). When in loving obedience and submission to His will, we fulfill the purposes of God for our lives, we are scoring 100% in His legacy department.
From a different perspective, we should be concerned about the earthly legacy we leave behind, because as in the case of Jehoram in 2 Chronicles 21:4-20, it will influence those we leave on earth.
