November 6, 2008
Legacies
People
will go to great lengths to be acknowledged and remembered.
In
Hollywood they have a walk of fame with people’s names on stars embedded in
the concrete walks. Buildings, parks and streets are all named to remember
someone or an event. Here in Albuquerque we have some artists who graffiti their
signs to show the world that they had been there.
It
is as if we have a built in desire to leave a legacy to show that we were here.
If
life is simply the few short years between when we're born and when we die, it's
no wonder we want to leave a legacy of our passing. Compared to the mountains,
the oceans and the heavens, our eighty or so years are truly insignificant.
There are some trees that are known to be more than 4,000 years old. If we
assume a generation to be forty years, that’s a hundred generations of people
who have come and gone and the tree still lives on. How many people of those
hundred generations even have their names remembered?
We
want to be remembered. People take great risks so that their names will be
remembered in the record books. They spend millions of dollars to have their
name remembered on a building. They contribute to churches so that a window or a
row of pews will "always" bear their name.
We
write journals to share the stories of our lives so that others will remember
the things we've said and done and know of the places we have been. The number
of autobiographies of the famous, the infamous and the unknown that have been
published is staggering. Don't misunderstand; I'm not against those things.
I
enjoy reading those sorts of journals and I love to look at old photos. I wonder
about the people in them. I wonder who the people were that have buildings and
streets named after them. As much as I wonder, I know that the legacy will
eventually pass away. Even the best of human legacies is temporary.
If
there is no afterlife and we have such a short period of time in this world
filled with evil and tragedy, we really are in a desolate place. If as some
would suggest, we are in fact the random by product of the evolution of a chain
of beings from a chance meeting of some obscure proteins that passes into
nothingness when life is done, then we live a life without hope. Even our
legacies are truly inconsequential. A hundred years from now, the buildings will
have been torn down, the paint faded, the street renamed and the journals unread
and no one will know of their passing.
There
is another perspective, one that I know is the ultimate truth. We were created
in the image of a loving God, with a purpose in mind and an eternity to look
for. The legacy we leave is in the lives we change for that eternity. A person
with whom we've shared the hope of Jesus is that much closer to spending
eternity with Father. The missions we give to and ministries we support
transform lives forever.
Life
on this earth is fleeting.
"All
men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the
grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands
forever." 1 Peter 1:24-25a NIV
Life
without God is devoid of meaning.
I
undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I
made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made
reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves
and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and
flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself,
and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a
harem as well--the delights of the heart of man. I became greater by far than
anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. I denied
myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took
delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I
surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything
was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:4-11 NIV
Life
with God has meaning and leaves a legacy that will last for eternity.
"Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and
where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in
and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew
6:19-21 NIV
One
day with Father is better than 1,000 without Him.
Look
upon our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one. Better is one day
in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. Psalm 84:9-10 NIV
How
much more so will eternity be? Eternity with Father sharing the legacy of souls
brought to be with Him as well. Now that's a real legacy.
Until
next time, may the mark you leave; be a mark for all eternity.
Be
blessed
Darrel
Mason