“All of us must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent me, because there is little time left before the night falls and all work comes to an end.” John 9:4 (NLT)
I ask a lot of people what they want to be remembered for. It’s one of my favorite questions to ask people. It shows me what is important to them and helps me gain perspective around how I want to live and what I want my legacy to be.
Some of my favorite answers have been:
- I want to be remembered for the kids I raised
- I want to be remembered as being a servant.
- I want to be remembered as someone who loved God and loved people.
Perhaps my favorite answer is one that may shock you. One leader told me, “I don’t think too much about an earthly legacy. In fact, I believe our earthly legacy is fleeting and can be self-serving. I just try to focus on what God wants me to do with my life and I believe that if I will do that, everything else will take care of itself.”
I loved that answer because it helped me really simplify what I want to do with my life and what I want to be remembered for. I want to be remembered as someone who loved God, loved his family, loved people, and made a huge impact for the Kingdom of God. Because in the end, that’s all that is going to matter.
I Corinthians 15:58 says, “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”
I Corinthians 3:13-15 says, “But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.
We all want our lives to count. We all want to do something significant with our lives. The Bible says that in the end, the only lasting legacy we will have are the things we did for the Kingdom of God. I want to live my life in a way that everything I do has an eternal impact. I want to challenge you to do the same.
Instead of worrying about what our earthly legacy will be, we should really focus on what our eternal legacy will be. We can do this by simply living everyday focused on doing what God wants us to do. If we will do that, our earthly legacy will take care of itself, and we will have a legacy that will last forever.
Questions:
- What do you want to be remembered for?
- What are you doing to ensure you’ll be remembered for that?
- Are you more focused on your earthly legacy than your eternal legacy?
- Are you focused on making an eternal impact?
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