“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.”
1 Peter 2:12
Many people today are talking about leaving a legacy for themselves in this world. According to many surveys, people today want to live meaningful lives that have a positive impact on the world we live in. This often involves doing something that leaves a mark on our world, so they are remembered for what they did with their life.
This most often involves something they make, such as a product or invention that helps people; something they accomplish, such as an athletic or artistic award; or something they give to financially, such as an endowment, scholarship, or philanthropic gift. In each of these situations, the person is remembered for their contribution to the world. But notice that the focus is on the person and having their name on a product, an award, or an institution that they gave money to. It’s about them, not the people they helped or who helped them along the way to their accomplishment.
As time passes in our earthly world, memories fade and those who made significant contributions in the past are often long forgotten. For example, do you know who Helen Sharman is and what she is famous for? Or how about Ernest Lawrence? Or Guglielmo Marconi? These were all people who were known for their accomplishments or made significant contributions to our world, but you may not have heard of them. If you do not know who they are, google them and find out!
The point is that our earthly accomplishments and recognition will one day pass away and be forgotten. If we pursue a legacy in this world, it may be remembered for a while, but it will not last forever. In other words, it has no eternal value! The Book of Revelation records the fact that our world as we know it will cease when Jesus returns and there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1). The earth and all of its sin will be gone! It will be replaced by a new earth free of sin and inhabited only by those who put their faith in Jesus Christ and built their legacy upon Him and not themselves!
The only legacy that lasts will be the legacy built upon who we were while we lived on the earth. It will be based on the way we lived our lives as Christian examples to others that will matter, not what we made, accomplished, or financially gave away! It is our faith in Christ and living a life of sacrifice and service to others that will last eternally. Matthew 6:19-21 tells us, “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.”
If we truly want to leave a lasting legacy from our life on this earth, we must humble ourselves and “live a life worthy of the calling we have received.” (Ephesians 4:1-2) A lasting legacy is not something that we can produce ourselves. Instead, who we are and how we lived our lives as faithful followers of Jesus Christ is what will produce a legacy that will last. Our role in this life is to be “Ambassadors” for Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:20) and to point others to Him to find salvation and an eternal life.
Do you know who Edward Kimball was? You’ve probably never heard of him. But he is someone who left a legacy of faith that lives on today.
Edward Kimball was a Sunday School teacher in Boston, MA in 1855 who had a young non-Christian boy attend his class one Sunday. He then sought him out at his place of employment in a shoe store and led him to place his faith in Jesus Christ. That boy was Dwight Moody, one of the great evangelists of the late 1800’s! In 1870, while traveling around the country, D.L. Moody (as he was more commonly known) led a young student at Lake Forest College near Chicago named J. Wilbur Chapman to the Lord at one of his revivals. J. Wilbur Chapman worked with Moody and became an evangelist himself in 1893. A well-known professional baseball player of that era, Billy Sunday, became a Christian, left baseball, and began to work with Chapman in Chicago as an advance man for his mission outreach. In 1895, Billy Sunday took over the mission from J. Wilbur Chapman and led those revivals until his death in 1935.
But in 1924, Billy Sunday held a crusade in Charlotte, NC that spawned a men’s prayer group. Ten years later in 1934, this prayer group invited a young preacher named Mordecai Ham to preach at their crusade. Attending this crusade in Charlotte was a young man named Billy Frank who attended the crusade for 8 nights and was spellbound by Mordecai’s preaching. That young man placed his faith in Jesus and later became known as Billy Graham, who has preached to more people (2.2+ billion) than any other evangelist in the world!
Edward Kimball simply taught Sunday School. But in doing so he produced a legacy of faith that was unknown to him in his own lifetime. It was truly a lasting legacy! He, like the original disciples, is an example to all of us who call ourselves Christians and seek to follow Jesus of what a life committed to following Jesus can produce (Proverbs 11:30)!
If we submit our lives to the Lord, live a life of faith as examples of Christ, and share Christ with those we encounter in this life, God will also use us to produce a legacy of faith like that of Edward Kimball.
Now that’s a legacy we can’t produce on our own that will last forever!