A legacy is what is passed down or left from a previous generation to the next. Whether done with intention or left by neglect, we will all leave a legacy, and it will tell the world what we lived for. A valuable legacy is built with purpose and on purpose. Its construction happens, day by day, brick by brick. It can’t be born in a hurry but is labored over with time and deliberate care. Our legacy will speak. It will either carry the blessing and promise or pass on the curse and struggle of those things left undone.
“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” is a legacy repeatedly claimed in scripture. The children of Israel understood from where their rich heritage had come, and they coveted the power it contained. So much so that Jacob tricked his brother Esau to lay claim to it. He didn’t just want the birthright. He wanted the blessing! It is innate in us to desire that we receive a legacy of value. We crave it. Indeed, we need it.
We hear the evidence of God’s approval for such a desire by his proclamation, “Jacob I have loved, and Esau I have hated.” (See Romans 9:13.) Why would God hate Esau? Because Esau’s hunger was for himself in the here and now. His desire for his birthright was treated with so little regard that he sold it for a crude bowl of beans. Yet Jacob, though by deception, knew its value and refused to let it go to another.
Genesis 18:17-19 explains why God chose Abraham to begin this line of legacy: “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”
Notice that the Lord “knew” Abraham “in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice.”
God’s design in this expectation was that it would prepare Abraham to receive what God had promised him and that it would affect his children’s lives after him. God desired to leave a legacy to Abraham and then pass it through him to the generations that followed.
What is the legacy that you will leave? We are a living epistle, read by all men. (See 2 Corinthians 3:2.) For more on legacy, listen to this episode of the Jaime Luce Podcast on CPN here. {eoa}
Jaime Luce is an author, blogger, podcaster, speaker and monthly contributor to Charisma magazine. She attended The Kings University in Southlake, Texas, with studies in biblical and theological studies. Her constant endeavor in every mode of communication is to encourage and strengthen the body of Christ through the power of God’s Word. Her website is jaimeluce.com. You can reach her by email at [email protected].
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