Legacy

The other day we were watching a baseball game – the first time Gwen and I have done that in decades – and a commercial came on that really resonated with us. In short, it was about a nurse instructor who was saving lives all over the country. It wasn’t that she was present herself at each of these places, but because of the students she had impacted through her training she played a part. This portrayal was a stirring call towards a career that would make a difference in other’s lives - now and into the future. It was a portrait of discipleship and multiplication.

We, like this nursing instructor, are to impact the future for Christ by the way we engage with people in the present.  When we interact with other believers, whether they are missionaries, pastors, ministry leaders, businessmen, teachers, mothers & fathers, or whoever it might be, our desire is not just to be an immediate catalyst for change and maturity in their own lives, but that they in turn will be catalysts for change and maturity in the lives of those they intersect with.  In this way, even though we can only be in one place at any given time, we can actually have a part in what God is doing in other parts of the world through those we have engaged with.

Now an interesting dynamic comes into play.  We humans have a natural tendency towards being competitive, and our natural tendency is to want to be seen as THE difference in other people’s lives. But God has a much bigger picture in mind and He wants us all to share! There is more than enough opportunities to go around. We don’t need to worry whether someone else has had a greater impact on our friend’s life than us! We all need to play the part that God has prepared for us to play. And just because someone dear to us seems to be gaining more from another mentor or teacher at the moment, doesn’t mean we should give up.

The apostle Paul had this same kind of situation in his life. He writes to the church in Corinth about it from God’s perspective:  “After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.”

God calls us to impact the future through engaging in other people’s lives today. But it is not a solitary role, and one could even suggest that “it takes a church to raise a spiritual child” (to put a slight twist on a phrase.) If we want to be the only one impacting someone’s life we will fail, and if we go to the other extreme and say that there is no need for us to engage – we also fail. It is because of God’s grace to us that we can have a part, and it is because of His grace that we must have a part! He created us for this very purpose.

Ultimately it is of course God who impacts the future through us and through those we engage with throughout each generation. But there is clearly personal responsibility on our part as well. All of our efforts can come to nothing, and we will leave only ashes as our legacy if we try to impact the future in our own strength; for our own reasons; or in our own wisdom. When we allow Christ to use us as catalysts for life change and replication, and when it is His love and grace and wisdom and Spirit that impact others through us, we can experience the excitement of knowing that our legacy will be life change both now and into the future!

Comments

[Rabin Tamang]

Dear Vic & Gwen
It was wonderful to see your website, thanks for sharing about your life & work, Our prayer is with you both, all family and the ministry.

God bless you,
Rabin Tamang
Kathmandu, Nepal