Leaving a Gospel Legacy
10 Ways to Live the Legacy You Want to Leave
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A Living Legacy
At ninety-something, Mrs. Sarah surely knows her days in this world are numbered. Each week I watch the frail figure with snowy white hair as she slowly, painfully, wobbles her way to her seat on the second row. Though she can no longer stand for the singing of hymns and the praying of the Lord’s prayer, she sits faithfully, a living legacy of love of the church and life in God’s word.
When I first met Mrs. Sarah in a Bible study I was leading, her knowledge of Scripture and her clear love of the words on the well-worn pages of her Bible utterly humbled me. She told us a story of when Bible reading became more than a duty: After World War II, she was forced to return to school to finish her teaching certificate to help support her family. Doing so meant living three hours away from her husband and two small children. She told us, “I cried myself to sleep every night with the Psalms.” Without ever meaning to or thinking about it, Mrs. Sarah has lived a gospel legacy, a legacy of the “good news about Jesus Christ.” She did so not by writing books or leading corporations or earning world records but by simple, daily acts of faithfulness.
Mrs. Sarah inspires me to ask, “How do we live the gospel legacy we want to leave?” I’ll offer ten gospel habits, some I believe essential, others non-essential, but no less significant. I’m sure you can think of many more. Please share ways you’ve seen others live a gospel legacy or ways God has called you to live the legacy you want to leave.
1. Oxygenate with Scripture.
I borrow this concept from Dane Ortlund, who writes, “Scripture is not an ancillary benefit for a life otherwise well ordered, in need of a little extra boost. Scripture is shaping and fueling and oxygenating. It is vital. Jesus prayed, ‘Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth”1 (John 17:17). Scripture will not only prepare us for suffering but it will be our very near nourishment for all the days of our life. As we breathe in this air, we will exude the “aroma of heaven.”2
2. Be still and listen to the triune God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Psalm 46:10).
As we age, we may find ourselves surrounded by silence, the silence of an empty home or apartment, the silence left by friends and family gone to be with the Lord, the silence of days no longer filled with work deadlines and lunch dates. Instead of filling that silence with the clanging gongs of 24-hour news or the numbing noise of social media, let’s sit in the silence and invite the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts. As we do, we will hear our Father singing his love over us (Zephaniah 3:17), we will hear the Son praying for us to draw near to God (Hebrews 7:25) and the Spirit groaning with and for us (Romans 8:26-27). A stillness of soul speaks volumes to those who live in a world whose days are “filled with busy rushing” (Psalm 39:6).
3. Pray.
If physical limitations prevent you from teaching VBS or preparing meals for the sick, pray. If doctor’s appointments, for yourself or for a loved one, prevent you from attending Bible study or your grandchild’s play, pray. If you are grieving the loss of many of your peers to dementia or death, pray. As you pray, believe that God hears your prayers and works mightily through them, because he does (James 5:16). If you are able, let some of the people you are praying for know how you are praying.
4. Engage in church.
In Christ, we were re-created to be contributing members of his body, the church (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Because Mrs. Sarah made the effort to attend Bible study, I received the much-needed reminder that no matter how much I thought I had learned in seminary, I had far more to learn from one who spent a lifetime oxygenating with Scripture and prayer. While physical limitations may hinder our efforts to be present in the body, we must seek to engage intentionally, through prayer, through cards and emails, through invitations to be visited if we are the “shut-ins.” We must remember how much we have to offer, because whether we are the big toe or the pinky finger of the body, we are still very much an essential part.
5. Ask forgiveness and extend forgiveness.
C. S. Lewis points out that often what we ask for and extend is to be “excused.” He defines real forgiveness as “looking steadily at the sin, the sin that is left over without any excuse…and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meanness, and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it.”3 That is what God has given us in Jesus Christ, real forgiveness. As we mentioned last month, forgiving and extending forgiveness are crucial end-of-life tasks, but they are made far easier when we make a habit of forgiveness throughout our lifetime. What could be better than to be known as a confessing person, a forgiving person (1 John 1:9; Ephesians 4:32)? What could better prepare us for meeting Christ than the reminder that we are forgiven of our sins because of his sacrifice for us?
6. Thank God and thank someone.
Take five minutes to write or say aloud a list of things you thank God for today, including difficult things (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Then take five minutes to write a note to someone or call them, thanking them for something. Write your daughter and tell her you thank God for how he has made her a beautiful mother. Write your caregiver and tell her thank you for the ways she has cared for you. As Christians, we know that all of the good in our lives is due to the grace of God; this grace leads to gratitude (2 Corinthians 4:15).
7. Write or record a story of God’s goodness and rescue in your life.
Scripture is one overarching story of redemption: God redeemed a sinful people by sending his own Son, Jesus, to die for our sins and to reconcile us to him. God has written individual and corporate stories of redemption into our lives. Write or record one or several of them. Share them with someone today, and put them in a safe place to be read or heard by others later. And if you’re interested in participating in my Living Story Legacy Workshop, sign up here to be notified about upcoming sessions.
8. Make a list or write stories of how you’ve seen God change your character over the years.
Were you once given to lying or lusting, cheating or gossiping, manipulating or boasting? Were you once a slave to idols that left you feeding off ashes — family, finances, substances, work, ministry, approval, achievement? Even in places you do not yet have complete freedom, name the struggle with sin and marvel at the sanctifying work God has done. Consider sharing this story of sanctification with another for the purpose of giving hope that God can bring freedom from sin in their lives.
9. Visit the sick or grieving.
Care for a caregiver. Invite a lonely neighbor or friend to church or to dinner. Think about people in your midst who are the “least and the lost” and show them kindness (Matthew 25:31-46). Send them a meal if you can’t make one. Write a card of encouragement. Remind them that they are not alone, that God sees them and cares for them.
10. Get your affairs in order.
As an act of loving your neighbor as yourself, commit to not leaving a mess for your children or family or church members. Pray for the courage and discipline to do the will and the advance directive; organize the passwords; corral the financial, medical, and daily details of your life; streamline your “stuff.” In so doing, you instruct your loved ones in preparing for glory, you show that you are fully prepared to move from this world to the next, your true and forever home. (Learn more about the Organizing Your Life and Legacy Course to help you with this, or check out the Organizing Your Life and Legacy Workbook.)
Dear Friends, a gentle reminder that these gospel habits do not happen by sheer willpower and self-discipline alone. They happen as we prayerfully “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling,” fully confident that “it is God who works in [us], both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13).
Before leaving, I urge you to share here or to share with another ways you’ve observed a gospel legacy well-lived that made you desire such a legacy. I urge you to pray that God would work in you to help you adopt new habits that will allow you to live the legacy you want to leave.
Note to all readers: In my Numbering Your Days column, I write monthly on a topic related to aging, caregiving, legacy, and end-of-life. Separately, I send out a free monthly newsletter sharing writing, speaking, and other resources related to aging, caregiving, legacy, and end-of-life. This month’s free newsletter goes out on August 1. If you would like to receive it, along with free resources for living a gospel legacy, be sure to subscribe by clicking this link: http://eepurl.com/b__teX.
1 Dane C. Ortlund, Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners (Wheaton: Crossway, 2021), 144.
2 Ortlund, 157.
3 C. S. Lewis, “On Forgiveness,” in The Weight of Glory and Other Essays (United States: HarperCollins, 2009), 134-136.
Thinking about the couple whose legacy-leaving life I very much appreciated, I have thought of a few more things.
Practice hospitality: their generous open-door policy toward people who needed a listening ear, a meal, or a place to stay for a few days/weeks/months was impressive.
Mentor younger people.
Reach out to those whom others ignore, or who need a friend. Mr. K. always wore a plaid shirt on Sunday night so that if someone visited in a plaid shirt, he wouldn't feel out of place. He faithfully picked up a man who was sort of "down-and-out" and brought him to church.
Live generously, give generously.
Be creative, and share your creations with others--woodworking, quilting, crocheting, painting, and many other forms.
This is a wonderful list — I wasn’t familiar with idea of oxygenating with Scripture, but I love it, and it conveys so well the life-giving power of God’s word.