Welcome to Spirit Bread
Spiritual Bread for the Spirit Bred
"For God so loved the world that He gave His onlyh begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
(John 3:16 - NKJV)
"For God so loved the world that He gave His onlyh begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
(John 3:16 - NKJV)
SPIRIT BREAD WEEKLY
THE LEGACY
By Jerry D. Ousley
By Jerry D. Ousley
The Legacy
By Jerry D. Ousley
We all leave one you know, a legacy. A legacy can be a gift left to our loved ones by a will and can include money and other personal property, or it could consist of something of character transmitted or received from those from our past. The legacy of character is what we want to keep in mind today. The catch is that our legacy isn’t always good. You see, that legacy we leave behind is made up of all our character and how we have been in the eyes of others.
We leave behind stories, good and bad, times we have hit “home runs” with our character and times when we have lost our tempers, said things we wish we hadn’t, or reacted in ways we would change if we could do it all over again.
Psalm 78:1-8 talk about leaving a legacy to our children. But it goes much deeper than just our physical character – It is about our spiritual character and relationship with God.
I think of Noah and how the earth was during his time. God had told them to teach their children about Him. Someone along the way failed to do that. In fact, by the time of Noah, only Noah and his family were right enough with God to be saved from the flood. Who dropped the ball? Who put more emphasis on physical things rather than spiritual? Who failed to tell their heirs about the LORD? Someone failed. In fact, many someone’s did. Everyone on the planet except Noah, his wife, his sons and his son’s wives were drowned in the flood. They didn’t pass on a good character – A character that mattered.
We must leave a legacy that will reach beyond the physical and the finite. In fact, plainly speaking, we must leave a legacy that points to Jesus Christ as the Savior. Each of us needs to pass on eternal life. It can’t just be information. We can tell them. We can instruct them. We could even insist that they seek God. But in the end, they still have a choice to make, as we all do.
Our legacy must be more than good information. It must include example. We need to show them how to live for Christ, not just tell them. If we fail to show them then basically, we are saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” That never works. Our lives must reflect the legacy of Christ.
This includes leaving the legacy in ways those we are leaving behind can understand. We do not compromise the message of the Gospel. But we do live the Gospel in ways they can identify with.
Who are you leaving a legacy for? Is it your kids? Is it your grandchildren? Is it your siblings? It could even by those you work with, learn with or even war with. Everyone we come into contact with is watching our legacy in progress. What are they seeing?
Am I saying that we must be perfect all the time? No, but even if we were, we wouldn’t be successful. No; we must live our legacy repenting of our sins, mistakes and errors. And what’s just as important is that those we are leaving the legacy for, see it. They need to see our mistakes and how we correct those mistakes. They need to see us repent of our failures, admitting them so as not to portray that we are supposedly perfect. We aren’t. Most likely, on this planet we never will be.
But our repentance leaves a legacy of how we come to Christ; not trying to live a perfect life, but a repentant life. A life that seeks God even in our failures. A life that says, “When I fail, I will pick myself up, dust off the seat of my pants from where I have fallen, and continue on my journey.”
What legacy are you leaving? Are you trying to be too perfect or are we showing the world Christ through our imperfection? Live your life for Christ in spirit and in truth. That is how we need to leave our legacy.
By Jerry D. Ousley
We all leave one you know, a legacy. A legacy can be a gift left to our loved ones by a will and can include money and other personal property, or it could consist of something of character transmitted or received from those from our past. The legacy of character is what we want to keep in mind today. The catch is that our legacy isn’t always good. You see, that legacy we leave behind is made up of all our character and how we have been in the eyes of others.
We leave behind stories, good and bad, times we have hit “home runs” with our character and times when we have lost our tempers, said things we wish we hadn’t, or reacted in ways we would change if we could do it all over again.
Psalm 78:1-8 talk about leaving a legacy to our children. But it goes much deeper than just our physical character – It is about our spiritual character and relationship with God.
I think of Noah and how the earth was during his time. God had told them to teach their children about Him. Someone along the way failed to do that. In fact, by the time of Noah, only Noah and his family were right enough with God to be saved from the flood. Who dropped the ball? Who put more emphasis on physical things rather than spiritual? Who failed to tell their heirs about the LORD? Someone failed. In fact, many someone’s did. Everyone on the planet except Noah, his wife, his sons and his son’s wives were drowned in the flood. They didn’t pass on a good character – A character that mattered.
We must leave a legacy that will reach beyond the physical and the finite. In fact, plainly speaking, we must leave a legacy that points to Jesus Christ as the Savior. Each of us needs to pass on eternal life. It can’t just be information. We can tell them. We can instruct them. We could even insist that they seek God. But in the end, they still have a choice to make, as we all do.
Our legacy must be more than good information. It must include example. We need to show them how to live for Christ, not just tell them. If we fail to show them then basically, we are saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” That never works. Our lives must reflect the legacy of Christ.
This includes leaving the legacy in ways those we are leaving behind can understand. We do not compromise the message of the Gospel. But we do live the Gospel in ways they can identify with.
Who are you leaving a legacy for? Is it your kids? Is it your grandchildren? Is it your siblings? It could even by those you work with, learn with or even war with. Everyone we come into contact with is watching our legacy in progress. What are they seeing?
Am I saying that we must be perfect all the time? No, but even if we were, we wouldn’t be successful. No; we must live our legacy repenting of our sins, mistakes and errors. And what’s just as important is that those we are leaving the legacy for, see it. They need to see our mistakes and how we correct those mistakes. They need to see us repent of our failures, admitting them so as not to portray that we are supposedly perfect. We aren’t. Most likely, on this planet we never will be.
But our repentance leaves a legacy of how we come to Christ; not trying to live a perfect life, but a repentant life. A life that seeks God even in our failures. A life that says, “When I fail, I will pick myself up, dust off the seat of my pants from where I have fallen, and continue on my journey.”
What legacy are you leaving? Are you trying to be too perfect or are we showing the world Christ through our imperfection? Live your life for Christ in spirit and in truth. That is how we need to leave our legacy.