Legacy

I enjoyed reading Ray Ortlund Jr's article, A Legacy Worth Leaving, about his father, Ray Ortlund. I had the privilege of being part of Ortlund Sr's church in my youth and appreciated his son's sharing. I even followed the link to an earlier piece on the same subject of his father's legacy from his son, Dane Ortlund. Good stuff.

Of course, as you might expect, it got me to thinking about my legacy. What am I leaving behind for my wife and children?

I'm not too concerned about "stuff". I don't think I'm doing them any great favors by leaving behind lots of "stuff". I tried not to endow them with a love of "stuff", so while that may be a common legacy people hope to leave behind, it's not mine. What then?

I have to start with the important matters. Oddly, it seems like we rarely start there. I want my legacy to be to pass on to my wife and children the important matters. The problem is that we tend to have faulty values here. We tend to think, "What's important to me?" rather than "What is important to God?" So when I boil this down--What legacy do I want to leave?--it has to be the question, "Are my values God's values?"

God's Number One value is pretty clear. "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor 10:31). (See also Matt 5:16; Rom 3:23; Eph 1:5-6; Eph 1:11-12; Eph 1:13-14; Psa 19:1; Rom 1:22-23; Rom 15:7; Phil 2:10-11; Rev 21:10-11; Heb 1:3 ... well you get the idea.) Everything is about His glory. Nothing is as important as the manifestation and magnification of His glory. So ... is that true for me? Is that what I believe? Is that what I think? Is that how I act? How I live? Is that what others will say about me? "He lived to the glory of God."

Our number one calling in this "glory of God" plan is to "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matt 28:19-20) Pretty simple. Pretty straightforward. Make disciples (not merely converts), baptizing and teaching them. The "Great Commission." Does that describe my life? Is that what I live to do? Do people see that in me?

We have one law: love. It starts with loving God and flows naturally to loving our neighbor. "On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matt 22:37-40) Do these characterize my life? Do people say of me, "He sure loves God and his neighbor"?

I also have some specific callings. For instance, wives are not, but husbands are called to "love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." (Eph 5:25-27) Seriously? Is my life with my wife characterized by this supremely sacrificial love and by the cleansing of the washing of water with the Word? It's not a complicated command, not a difficult to understand instruction. Does it characterize my relationship with my wife? Am I teaching my grown kids by my example that this is how a husband should be?

I don't know about you, but these examples aren't helping me much. I am not in the least satisfied with the legacy I'm leaving. I do not devote enough attention to the glory of God, sufficient effort in making disciples, not even remotely enough time loving God or those around me, or enough of my life to loving my wife. And I'm just standing at four examples of what God wants me to leave behind. Seems as if I should be working a lot harder at this, doesn't it? I think so.