At a funeral, there’s usually a time when people speak about the person who’s died. They often share memories and what they loved about the person. What do we want people to say and remember about us? It’s probably not going to be how much money we made, what grades we got in our exams, or the things we owned. Our legacy should be more about how close our character was to Christ’s, how strong our faith was, the people we shared the Good News with and the positive influences we had on our communities and those around us. And we can start working towards that legacy right now. It’s about creating a lifestyle that’s based on becoming more like Christ and living as He did. It’s about having an impact on others and using your life to glorify God. The Bible says: ‘Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort’ (1 Corinthians 15:58 MSG). The work we do for God today will have an eternal legacy. It’s definitely not a waste of time. So when we feel like we’re not making any difference or people aren’t listening when we’re telling them about Jesus, we mustn’t give up. Instead we need to keep the eternal legacy as our motivation. It isn’t about people being in awe of how great a person we were and how good a life we led; it’s about the times when God’s kingdom broke through into society because we followed God’s call to work in partnership with Him. Let’s be people who leave this kind of legacy so that others will praise God ‘from generation to generation’ (Psalm 79:13 NIV).

What Now?

What’s one change you could start today to make your life more Christlike? Even something that seems simple, like spending an extra ten minutes reading the Bible each day, can have an impact.