Skip to main content

Leave A Legacy


What do you think of in terms of leaving a legacy?  Leaving property or money?  That’s one way.

The dictionary points to more possibilities:  “something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.”   Something transmitted could mean lots of things and it doesn’t always have to be something tangible.

The book of Hebrews records a legacy that wonderfully fits that broader definition:  “And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.”  In this case, God commended Abel for his faith and actions and both still speak to us today.  (Heb 11:4)

Another one is found in the book of Mark:  “I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”  In this account, the woman took a jar of very expensive perfume and poured the perfume on Jesus’ head.  While others were criticizing the act as wasteful, Jesus set the record straight:  “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” (Mark 14:3-9)

A legacy is something that should last.  Property and money may last for a time.  But the legacy that both Abel and the woman left has lasted thousands of years.  Neither involved transmitting something tangible but both involved transmitting something that they did.  And both legacies are permanently recorded in the Word of God and continue to speak to us today! 

Do your best to transmit a legacy that will last and one that will be meaningful.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Excel Still More!

To excel, according to some of the meanings from a few dictionaries, is to surpass others, do extremely well, outdo, do something better than anyone else. In 1 Thessalonians 4:1, we find the phrase “excel still more”.   It prompts the question:  if we are already doing something better than anyone else, why would we be encouraged to do even more? Perhaps it would be helpful to see the wording that other translations use for “excel still more” to see why we would be encouraged to do so.  Here is a sampling: • abound more and more • to keep doing so more and more • but try even harder • live that way more and more. • that you progress even more. • that you increase more and more in how you ought to walk Maybe it would also be helpful to see some other verses where the word “excel” is used: “Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means Dorcas); this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.”...

New Year Trash or Treasure?

You probably know the old saying:  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  I am not going to try to prove or disprove it, just look at it from a different angle. Cheryl and I were recently walking on a beach in Florida .  A man was walking along with a bag and was picking up trash and putting it in the bag.  Was he picking up things of value? We also saw a different man walking along the same beach with a metal detector.  He would swing it back and forth and would occasionally stop and dig in the sand.  Was he looking for things of value? Both were intent.  Both were focused.  Both were diligent. I’m guessing that the one picking up trash was not looking for things of value.  I’m also guessing that, by picking up trash, he was valuing the beauty of the beach and didn’t want the trash to mar it.  The one with the metal detector, I’m guessing that he was not looking for metallic items of trash but was looking for...

Value Proposition

Value proposition:  it’s a marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service.  It should clearly and concisely communicate what customers can gain from selecting a particular brand over that of its competitors. In a value proposition, you don’t want your product to be viewed as being worth less than what your competitors offer.   But even worse, in a bit of a quirk of how letters and spaces can fall, if you take out the space between “worth” and “less”, you get “worthless”, which means something of no value.   If that word is used in conjunction with how your product is viewed by customers, it’s a word that will likely kill your brand. In the book of Philippians, the Apostle Paul, in a sense, communicated some value propositions. In chapter three, he starts off with describing the value of some things that many considered as extremely valuable in that day and age.   They had to do with status and achievement in the reli...