The legacy that a person leaves in life is very important. It seems that no matter what a person accomplished in life, whether good or bad, outweighs his or her legacy. Take for example the Beatles. They took America by storm; a simple rock band from England. After time, fame got to John Lennon and he had made the comment that the group was bigger than Jesus. That is how I remember Lennon (and this is an event that I did not even experience). Bill Clinton was a wonderful president and did so much for this country. However, an indiscretion with his intern Monica tarnished his legacy. A little blue dress is how I remember Clinton. If you were to walk into the Pizza Hut in Yucca Valley and mention my name, you would find that I left a great legacy in my wake. A great manager is how my employees remember me. But this was not always so for me. My legacy was not always the greatest. How will you be remembered?
"The memory of the [uncompromisingly] righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked shall rot." Proverbs 10:7, Amplified
Even Solomon understood the legacy that men left behind. As we ourselves look back into our lives, we can find different figure heads that shaped our individual lives. They could be teachers, friends or employers, but these individuals left an everlasting mark in our lives. Their memory brings with it a blessing to our lives.
Then there are those individuals who have not left quite the same impression on our lives. Their wickedness has brought with it a foreboding darkness. I can think of many different individuals that left this sort of mark in my life. In truth, however, their memory is not at the forefront of my life on a day to day basis. As I get older and wiser, their memory seems to get dimmer and dimmer for me. Men like Sadam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden will always be infamous in American history, but the memory of their misdeeds will fade as better men and women step up and create for themselves a better and stronger legacy.
The Bible even lays this out as a truth for us. Different men and women left an excellent legacy for us to follow. They are the examples that we have to mimic and follow. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony." (Hebrews 11:1-2, NKJV) There are also those stories that we read that should become the antithesis of ourselves, the things not to do or the paths not to follow. "Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted." (I Corinthians 10:6, NKJV)
How will you be remembered?
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