I just finished a sermon series at church called One Month to Live. The “big idea” of the series is for believers to live each day committed passionately toward serving the Lord and serving the people in our lives as if there were no tomorrow.
When time is really short, our priority list tends to become much more clear and targeted.
The final message focused on leaving a legacy without regrets.
That’s something we all want, I’m sure. We want to be remembered for the things we’ve done well, things we’ve done that helped others toward better lives.
We don’t want a legacy stained by bad things.
Of course, we’re not perfect. We’ve made mistakes. But my sense is that people don’t cling to our mistakes if they weren’t malicious or weren’t because of stubborn refusal to change.
It’s those decisions that were intentional choices to put self first that tend to stain legacies.
If we’re known as people who tried to do the right thing as a pattern for living, we’ll have good legacies.
People — particularly our loved ones and friends — will have good memories of us.
Today’s devotional reading in the One-Year Bible contained a passage that prompted this Morning Devotion.
“We have happy memories of the godly, but the name of a wicked person rots away.” (Proverbs 10:7)
Like me, you almost certainly have happy memories of godly people who have passed into eternity. Those memories are not only comforting for your residual sense of loss, but they’re also instructive in making your own good choices regarding family life, work life, church life or health life.
And like me, you almost certainly have memories of people who engaged in wickedness, whose passing was met with little sorrow on your part.
Sadly, too many people die with the same lack of concern shown by peers that was shown to evil King Jehoram in the Old Testament. When he died, the Bible said nobody regretted it.
Wow.
Let’s pour our hearts and hands into serving others in godly ways and to conducting ourselves in a godly manner. This is what will leave a legacy that pleases and guides those whom we love and leave behind.
And please don’t wait to start manifesting godliness in every aspect of your life.
You see, none of us knows how many days we have left.
An auto accident or a stroke or a heart attack could happen at any time and we’re done.
Nobody wants a “coulda, woulda, shoulda” legacy.
Let’s live like Jesus now and bless our loved ones with a quality legacy forever.
As always, I love you
Martin
