Many people work their entire lives to build a legacy for themselves and their children. Doing that is great, but in the process, how much of who you are have been sacrificed? How much of your time with your children has gone astray? And how did Jesus fit into all of it?
The question I actually want to get to is this: Who is your legacy all about?
For a long time in my life, I was working on building my own reputation and success, and to a large degree I may have been successful, but at the end of the day if I look back, it would have been all about me. If I were to die an early death at the age of 25, people would have remembered me for being good at sports and having a lot of determination by never standing back for a challenge but in none of that do I even see an inch of Jesus. And that made me start thinking…
We grow up learning the importance of dreaming, going after your heart’s desires and making a name for yourself. And doing that was a huge part of me and probably always will be, but my focus had to start changing. The dreams we dream and the lives we chase here on earth are temporary and often filled with empty promises and heartache for as long as it is all about us.
But when we dream with Jesus, everything changes!
My heart’s song is that life should not be about us. It should not be about what we want and dream, but what does Jesus want. What are the dreams He wants to fulfil through us. When we begin to walk in the legacy He wants to leave through us, we will never turn up empty. Because when people then look back at our lives, they would not be looking at us but at Jesus’s fingerprints that would be all over our lives.
At the end of the day, it does not matter how one wants to argue it; it is only Jesus that matters. He is the reason we get to walk our steps on the earth and the day will come when He calls us back home.
Do you want to make your steps count?
I want to make my steps count, but not for myself but for Him.
If I can leave a legacy for my children to walk in, it would be great but it can come to an end. If I can give them Jesus to walk with, the legacy will never stop. Because Jesus has no end. In Him, everything is brought to fulfilment and into greater glory.
The words of the song by Casting Crowns, “Only Jesus” sum up the point I am trying to make:
Make it count, leave a mark, build a name for yourself
Dream your dreams, chase your heart, above all else
Make a name the world remembers
But all an empty world can sell is empty dreams
I got lost in the light when it was up to me
To make a name the world remembers
But Jesus is the only name to remember
And I, I don’t want to leave a legacy
I don’t care if they remember me
Only Jesus
And I, I’ve only got one life to live
I’ll let every second point to Him
Only Jesus
All the kingdoms built, all the trophies won
Will crumble into dust when it’s said and done
‘Cause all that really mattered
Did I live the truth to the ones I love?
Was my life the proof that there is only One
Whose name will last forever?
And I, I don’t want to leave a legacy
I don’t care if they remember me
Only Jesus
And I, I’ve only got one life to live
I’ll let every second point to Him
Only Jesus
…