Leaving a Legacy

There among an accumulation of dried leaves I spied the rusted skeleton of an old, broken chair just up in the woods from the edge of the pond. As I have walked around the pond and in the woods since moving here I’ve often thought of those that walked here before me. This remnant of life I’d uncovered assured me of an earlier visitor to the pond. My hope is that they, too enjoyed the peace of this place.

Looking at what was left of this chair, I knew that at one time it had been whole and worthy of use by its owner. The person that had sat in that chair depended on the strength of the chair’s legs to support both its own weight and the added weight of the human body now sitting upon it. It seemed a sad old relic now left to fade away from sight. Soon, covered by layers upon layers of leaves and other brush, no one would ever know that someone had been there.

Well, this made me reflect on my life…my life lived for Christ. Have I been worthy of the calling Jesus has placed upon my life? Have I supported the Gospel by sharing it with others and when I am gone from this earth to my heavenly home, will my testimony be remembered as a vibrant life lived for Christ or will it be left rusty, old and broken like this chair? God’s Word tells us in II Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” The focus of our efforts should be becoming a worker who does not need to be ashamed. According to the Believer’s Bible Commentary, the latter portion of this verse as Henry Alford explains it means, to manage rightly to treat truth fully without falsifying.

So, then what does God require of His children? Look in Micah 6:8, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” These three, when followed as God requires along with being a workman not ashamed that manages the truth without falsifying it, leaves a life legacy that will not fade from sight. The memory of a life lived for God in Jesus Christ will always leave its mark upon those whose lives we touch with His light.

How do we accomplish this? In II Timothy 1:12, the apostle Paul says, “Nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

I know whom I have believed….do you?

(excerpt from The Pond 2016)