Sept 29, 2014
A good person leaves an inheritance
for their children’s children…Proverbs 13:22
Webster’s Dictionary defines a legacy as “something coming from a predecessor.” It’s what we leave behind that others will remember us by. As I have contemplated my predecessors, and what their legacies have been to me, my mother comes quickly to mind. Besides her sparkling wit, her commitment to world evangelism, her devotion to my Daddy, and her fierce loyalty to her children, the legacy that stands out above all else is the legacy of God’s Word. She loved it! She spent hours reading and studying it. At the end of her life, she was still memorizing passages from it. As a result, hers was a life well lived. Because she didn’t just obey God’s Word, she increasingly grew passionately in love with the One who is revealed in its pages.
Her legacy is summarized by the inscription she wrote in the flyleaf of the Bible she gave to me on the day I was baptized. It was a navy blue Scofield King James Version that I treasure to this day. The inscription reads, To Anne, (Who on this January 13, 1957 publicly took her stand for Christ, her Savior.) We give this Book, your one sure guide in an unsure world. Read it, study it, love it, live it. In it you will find a verse for every occasion. Hide them in your heart. We love you. Mother
Her words could have been just inscribed on a page, except for the fact that I saw them inscribed on her life. Their meaning is her legacy that ripples throughout my own life, my family and my ministry. Seven years after she moved to Our Father’s House, her legacy is a spiritual inheritance that continues to bless her five children, 19 grandchildren, and over forty great-grandchildren…and beyond.
Which leads me to wonder…
What can I do today to make sure that I leave a rich spiritual inheritance for my children’s children tomorrow? What will be my legacy to those who come after me?
