Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the word legacy. I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m finally coming to terms with being in my forties. Maybe it’s because next Monday I’ll officially become the father of a teenager (WHAT!?). Or maybe it’s because earlier this year, just before we left for the Holy Land, Geovanna and I signed our first-ever “last will and testament.”
There has been no shortage of sobering events in 2020, so I suppose that’s why I’ve been reflecting so often on that word – legacy – and wondering what mine will be.
The word legacy hasn’t always meant what it means today. These days, people speak of legacy in terms of wealth or achievements through which people can make a name for themselves that will live on long after they die. But the earliest known use of the word legacy actually referred to “a person or group of people who are sent on a mission.” For centuries, your legacy was your mission, your life’s message, which you entrusted to a messenger or ambassador upon your death.
This is a picture of my great-great-grandfather, John Mills. He was a Methodist preacher in Kentucky. He was a circuit rider, meaning that he preached at 4 or 5 churches; he’d try to get to each church at least once a month. And he was a firebrand. They used to say that, by the time he parked his horse in front of the church, he was already shouting about Jesus.
He had five sons, and all five grew up to become preachers.
This is one of his boys, my great-grandfather, Oscar Mills, and his wife Daisy. In addition to preaching, Oscar twilighted as a house painter. They had 11 kids together, but only 4 survived childhood. They used to call Oscar a spitfire because even though he was only 5’5” he commanded an audience because he was on fire for Jesus. Every Sunday, he started preaching with a jacket and tie, but by the end of the sermon, the jacket was gone, and so was the tie.
My Grandpa Ray was a dairy farmer and a truck driver before he became a preacher later in life.
And my dad, Chuck, recently retired after almost 30 years of ministry. Every Sunday I stand up to preach, I represent five generations of fiery gospel preachers. They handed down a legacy to me, in the form of a message. It wasn’t money, but it was a legacy, and I am proud to be a part of it.
Today, I have the benefit of looking back at my ancestors, but one day, I’ll be the ancestor. One day, I’ll be the one whose picture they look at and whose name they can’t remember. One day, they’ll sit around and laugh about how I had to drive places in a car and how the only robot I had was called Roomba and all it did was sweep the floors. One day, my descendents will not know my name, but they will know my legacy.
And the same goes for you. So what will your legacy be? Will it be just your accomplishments, or will your legacy be a message? Will it be just money, or will your legacy be a ministry?
“For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all…and he died for all so that those who live might live no longer for themselves., but for him who died and was raised for them. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” – 2 Cor. 5:14-19
The message of Jesus Christ and his ministry of reconciliation is the legacy of every believer. That’s why we offer our pledges and commitments to God every year – because we know that the only legacy that matters is the one we leave by investing in His ministry on earth, and by sharing His message with the world.
Loving God, following Jesus, and investing our lives in His soul-saving work – I pray that will be our legacy.
