Legacy: The Impact That Keeps on Giving

The term “legacy” isn’t going away any time soon. It became a fixture of my own vocabulary in 2001, when I joined the team of a non-profit named Leaders Legacy. Since then, it seems just about everyone has jumped on the legacy bandwagon. We hear about it on TV and radio, online, and many businesses have made it a focal point for their planning.

Despite living in times that encourage a right-now, gotta-have-it-immediately mindset, there’s a growing awareness of the need for a longer term view, that what we do and say today can live on many years after we’ve checked out of this life.

Maybe it’s a Baby Boomer thing, members of a generation aging and wondering whether they’ve made any difference at all in this world. I heard legacy discussed again recently when Mart Green, board chair of Hobby Lobby, spoke at a local leadership prayer breakfast.

Legacy has been defined, Green said, as “something transmitted, or received by others.” He elaborated that one’s legacy consists of “something someone’s achieved that continues to live on after they die.” He likened it to passing a baton during a foot race. A relay team can have a big lead, but if the baton fails to pass from one runner to the next, all is lost.

One’s legacy can come in many forms, including success in the workplace, fame, or contributions to society. Some people regard their estate or net worth at their time of death as their legacy. But many successful business people, celebrities, and wealthy individuals from decades or centuries ago aren’t even dim memories today.

So how do we build a lasting, meaningful legacy? Dr. Billy Graham, who surely left a legacy that figures to continue for a long, long time, offered this view: “The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.”

Simply put, but it says a lot. Proverbs 10:7 seems to agree: “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.” If that sounds too blunt, consider Proverbs 13:9: “The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.”

Lots of people may come to mind that are remembered for unsavory reasons, but who designs to do that? We all hope to leave a mark in life for positive reasons, don’t we? That’s why striving to build an eternal, spiritual legacy is wise.

The Israelites – and all of God’s people today – were given this admonition: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7).

One of the greatest investments we can make isn’t measured by dollar signs. It’s our children and the kind of people we’ve helped them become. As Proverbs 17:6 states, “Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children." But the Scriptures make clear that physical offspring aren’t the only source of an enduring legacy. Spiritual children can be as well.

Years ago a friend showed me a special verse, Isaiah 43:4, in which God tells His followers, “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life.” Sounds like a fair trade to me. 

And 2 Timothy 2:2 gives a multi-generational picture of what this looks like. “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will also be qualified to teach others.” That, from the Lord’s point of view, is a legacy that matters.

Living for a Legacy?

“What is your purpose? What is the legacy you want to leave?”

These are questions J. Frank Harrison III, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Consolidated, often asks when speaking, leading training sessions, or doing interviews in his company. Speaking at an annual leadership prayer breakfast, he explained these questions concern topics many people have never seriously pondered.

Like the ripple a single drop of water makes
in a pond, our legacies can radiate a long way.

For lots of young people, matters like purpose and legacy seem irrelevant. Many of us tend to drift through life, “like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind,” as James 1:6 describes it. We react as situations arise, with little concern about long-term benefits or consequences. But we begin to write our legacy from the time we can start making conscious decisions.

Leaders Legacy, the non-profit I’ve worked for over the past 15 years, began using “legacy” long before it became a buzzword. Now it’s used almost everywhere. From the start, its founder Dave Stoddard understood a life is best lived when guided by a well-defined purpose and directed to achieve a specific legacy. Our motto has been, “Building great leaders who build great leaders,” because the true test of leaders is not what’s accomplished while they’re in charge, but what happens after they’re gone.

A legacy isn’t something we select for ourselves. It’s the sum of our being – what we’ve lived for, the lives we’ve touched, and the difference we’ve made along the way. At the same time, leaving a worthwhile legacy doesn’t happen by accident. If we approach life haphazardly, without even a basic plan for a guide, our legacy will reflect that. As someone has said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

I’m thinking of a longtime friend whose rich, enduring legacy was solidified years ago. I met Robert Foster in 1981, soon after joining CBMC as editor; Bob was on the national board, heading the publications committee. In Bob I found a man of extremely high character and integrity, a very wise and caring person, deeply committed to serving his Lord, Jesus Christ, and others. He loved being an ambassador for Christ through his work, time he invested in men and women to assist in their spiritual growth, and in the ministries and missions he was involved with throughout his life.

Bob, who at 92 recently entered hospice with terminal cancer, has been a sterling example of someone finishing well in life. Even after his 90^th birthday, he participated in a mission to China to tell people about Jesus. Whenever he was in meetings, he was an E.F. Hutton-kind of person: When he spoke, people listened. Because they knew what he said would be meaningful.

Without question, if Bob had been asked, “What is your purpose? What is the legacy you want to leave?” he could have answered without hesitation.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the apostle Paul also had such certainty. In fact, in an Amplified Bible translation of Philippians 3:10, he declares, “For my determined purpose is that I may know Him (Jesus) – that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly….”

As for his legacy, later in the letter to believers in Philippi Paul instructs, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put into practice. And the peace of God will be with you” (Philippians 4:9). Nearing the end of his life, the apostle wanted them to be continuing the work he had done so diligently, laid on the foundation of Jesus Christ. His actions flowed from who he was and the God he knew.

We see similar admonitions throughout the Scriptures: Moses entrusting leadership of the Israelites to Joshua; Elijah literally passing his mantle on to Elisha; David transferring the kingship of Israel to his son, Solomon. And especially Jesus, just before His ascension, directing His followers, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:19-20).

As His followers, we each should have a clear sense of purpose, as well as a vision for what kind of legacy we’d like to leave. If there is any doubt, it’s never too late to ask ourselves: What is my purpose? What is the legacy I want to leave? Then, once we’ve determined where we’re going, we just have to figure out how to get there.

Preparing for the Trip?

Imagine planning to make two trips. One’s to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk. The other is a year-long excursion around the world. Which trip would merit more preparation time?

Before leaving for the grocery store you might check to see if you’d need to add something to your list. Then you’d grab your wallet, keys and hop into your car. It’s a short trip, so you needn’t fret about forgetting something. You could easily go back.

To travel around the world, however, you’d have to be more prepared. You’d want to consider things like tickets, passports and visas, money and credit cards, clothing and various essentials, camera, maps, cell phone charger. Language guides for communicating in a foreign land. And for areas with health risks, you’d want to get necessary vaccinations.

Approaching everyday life, I sometimes find myself doing this in reverse. I become consumed with today, maybe thinking about tomorrow, but forgetting about life’s greater journey – especially the life to come.

We tend to fret, fuss and fume about “now” – needs, wants and demands. Stress levels peak, blood pressures spike, and anxieties escalate when problems arise. “What are we going to do?” we lament. But Jesus said we’re expending time and energy needlessly:

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or “What shall we wear?’ For even the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:31-33).

He’s not saying to ignore our needs. But once we’ve done all we know to do, the Lord says, “Relax. Take a chill pill. I’ve got this.” Instead of concentrating on the equivalent of a quick jaunt to the grocery store, Jesus is telling us – regardless of our age – to be preparing for the incredible journey yet to come.

The apostle Paul understood this. That’s why he wrote, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). All this stuff we feel so concerned about? It will be gone before we know it. In the blink of an eye. So instead of staring at passing road signs, we should be envisioning the ultimate destination.

This doesn’t mean becoming so heavenly minded we’re no earthly good. But it challenges us to approach each day with a clear, uncompromising sense of what’s important.

Jesus described this in His so-called “Sermon on the Mount,” declaring, “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” (Matthew 6:19-20).

It’s never too early to start building a legacy. At the same time, it’s never too late. You’re familiar with the old saying, “You can’t take it with you”? That’s true, but at the same time Jesus is telling us, “You can send it on ahead of you – so it will be waiting on you.”

If we live in the light of an eternal perspective, there’s no telling what treasures will be waiting for us one day.