A Good Name- THE LEGACY
A Good Name
by
Rocky Fleming
Friday - The Legacy
"But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children," (Psalms 103:17 ESV)
I would like to reshape the way many of you think of your legacy. I want to give credit where credit is due. The legacy that we leave that is the most impactful and enduring is not the memory of our good name, or the good things we have done, although that comes along for the ride. Rather, it is the legacy of God's faithfulness to our life and the living testimony of His good name that our life represents. It is having lived our life with Christ and having had experienced His faithfulness, and as a result we leave an extreme credibility of our relationship with Him that follows us all the days of our life, and the memory of it. In Psalms 23:6, David sees this truth and shares it:
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever." (Psalm 23:6 ESV)
When David spoke of goodness and mercy he was not speaking of his own. If so, we would have a hard time accepting the personal goodness of this adulterer, murderer, and man of war. He did not represent things of goodness and mercy. He had some good days and as well, a whole lot of bad days from the bad decisions he made. For some people he had a bad, bad name most of his life. Ask the Philistines what they thought of him. Although he was good and bad at best, He testified to God's consistent faithfulness and goodness and this made us love him. He made some bonehead decisions like his affair with Bathsheba and ultimately having her husband, his faithful soldier, killed to protect his image. But he was agonizingly repentant and he showed us what true repentance looks like. His experience with God and his writings of songs and prayers have remained to this day, and they are his legacy of the faithfulness of God. Those writings are not about David and what he had done. They are about what God had done for him and Who this God is. That is why I say our legacy is actually our experience with God that remains after us, not our personal greatness.
Unlike David, we might not write songs and poetry and do gallant things on a battlefield. That was unique to the man. What is unique to us is the way we live our life with integrity, honor, and glory to God. It might be in an office, or a factory line, over an operating table, in a school or before our children. Where we do those things is not relevant to leaving a Christ honoring legacy. What is important is that we get up and show up everyday with a simple prayer, "Lord here I am. Take all You want of me and use me to Your glory." We have this in our voice and in our heart. This is called a "consecrated life." It is about surrender, attachment, nurturing love and the dynamic of Him having complete access to our life. If we do this, I believe with all my heart that the rest will be up to Him, and when it is all said and done, we will have goodness and faithfulness following us all the days of our life and after we are gone. When we dive into an intimate abiding relationship with Christ, we will position our self to be changed into a man who will carry a good name for bringing glory to our King.
The legacy of a man begins when he is alive. For you and me, it is now. Some of you might think nothing good can follow you for you have wounded everything around you. This is untrue. God gives the worst reprobates the opportunity for a re-do. The Apostle Paul called himself the chief among all sinners. Although it sounds overstated, I think based on how he persecuted the Church it might have been an accurate description. But God gave him an opportunity for a do-over and he left a legacy of God's goodness and faithfulness that we read about today. There is not a one of you out there that this opportunity does not apply to. God will give you an opportunity to build a legacy and establish a good name. But you will have to give up your rights to yourself and dive head long into your relationship with Christ. It is waiting for you. So go get it. There is still time, and the best is yet to come.