Legacy
3/22/2023
Written By: Stephen Cox
"I want to leave a legacy,
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough?
To make a mark on things
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace
Who blessed Your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy."
-Legacy
Nichole Nordeman
These are lyrics to a song that my wife and I love. It’s a catchy song, for sure, but the message is one that resonates with us to our cores. The idea of not so much what people will say about us when we are gone, but what the Lord will say when we stand in His presence, is one that guides our paths and our decisions.
But since I mentioned it, what might someone say about me when I am gone? What will be my epitaph? What would be written on my tombstone? On social media platforms, my bio reads: “Love God. Love People. Change the World. Repeat. I am a Christ-Follower/Husband/Father/Teacher/Coach in that order. Questions, just ask.”
Catchy, eh?
Always true? Far from it.
You see I fail to point people to Jesus as often as I should/could. But I’m working on it. I’m not the husband I want to be and that Kimberly deserves. But I’m working on it. I’m not the best dad to Eloise and Hunter. But I’m working on it. I can be a better teacher & coach…and I’m working on it. And as Josh has said several times, God desires PROGRESS TOWARD PERFECTION. If I’m not dead God’s not done.
And that is the legacy I want to leave to my children and my children’s children. Proverbs 13a states, “The good leave an inheritance to their children’s children”. There are certainly physical ideas of inheritance; houses, jewelry, money, etc. I’m a school teacher…other than a few rings and maybe some earrings from Claire’s, I’ve got nothing.
But the spiritual inheritance? Oh man…how exciting was it to see 3 baptisms on Sunday morning? And one of those was a father getting baptized and then baptizing his son! WOW!!!
I have had the honor and privilege to baptize many youth throughout my years in ministry. What a blessing they all have been! But the two most special and most meaningful have been my daughter, Eloise and my son, Hunter. Kimberly and I have strived with the leading of the Holy Spirit to teach our children The Way and to bring them up in the Lord. And they love Jesus and want their friends to love Jesus too!
Please take this next statement to heart ESPECIALLY if you are involved in a ministry that is to children or youth…education, student ministry, youth ministry, homeschooling, whatever it may be. There is no more important inheritance (legacy) than the spiritual legacy you leave for your children.
I’ve baptized dozens of students…It’s been a while, but if you asked me, I can still name every one of them. And I am blessed to be maybe even just a page in their spiritual journey. But God is writing CHAPTERS with me, Kimberly, Eloise, and Hunter. What our kids see and believe about Jesus is going to be what I reflect and what Kimberly reflects.
So when I say I am not what I need to be, it’s not self-deprecation for the proverbial “oh, you’re a great husband or a great dad” or any of those things. I am just realizing the gravity of our world, a society in which wrong is seen as right and right is seen as hate. So many voices are speaking into our children’s lives as well as our own. And for me, and hopefully for you as well, the stakes are too high for me to think “well…that’s good enough”. I want to lead my family like Christ has called me to; sacrificially, unapologetically, lovingly.
One thing I have been called on to do having been ordained into ministry has been to be the officiant at funerals. And although I was not the officiant “of record”, I was asked to give the eulogy at my maternal grandmother’s funeral in 2010. She was my last grandparent left to get to meet Jesus. And the one word that kept coming to mind was LEGACY.
My grandmother’s mother was a charter member of my home church and raised my grandmother and her siblings there. She and my grandfather went there and raised their children there. And those children of theirs who stayed in Dennison, Ohio raised their children there. My grandfather passed 14 years before my grandmother. They had been married over 50 years. This past year both Kimberly’s parents and my parents celebrated 50 years of marriage. Do you see where I am going here?
Are/were any of those marriages perfect? Are/were any of those 6 individuals, although they all love(d) Jesus very much, perfect parents? Did they always say or do the right things? No, of course not. But what do they all have in common? They have all left “an inheritance”, a spiritual legacy for their children’s children.
"I want to leave a legacy,
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough?
To make a mark on things
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace
Who blessed Your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy."