What Will You Leave Behind?

It is often at the end of a person’s life that they think about their legacy, or at their funeral that others recount it. We all leave something behind, but we tend to lose sight of or forget that fact until it is too late. As we come, not to the end of life but the end of the year, I think it is important to allow that “ending” to remind us to take a look back at what we have left behind so far, and motivate us to change what we will leave behind in the future.

Proverbs 13:22 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,
And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

Those who are wise and righteous plan ahead so that they can provide for their descendants. This includes more than just money. They will be intentional in what they teach their children so that the legacy of godliness, wisdom and righteousness will pass on through the generations.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

The thing is, we teach our children all the time. It is not only the times when we sit them down to talk, it is in everything we do. We teach our children by our actions, and since our actions are a reflection of what we truly believe, our kids will know and learn what we truly believe in our hearts. That is how the wicked lose everything. They teach from the wickedness in their hearts, which is selfishness, pride and dishonesty. Because that is what their children learn, they will treat their parents this way, who will in the end be left with nothing.

Proverbs 20:7 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

A righteous man who walks in his integrity—
How blessed are his sons after him.

The road we walk will influence those around us, especially our children. That is the legacy we leave. It is not how much money we make, or how successful we were, it is how we lived, where we walked. That is what our children learn. That is how we will be remembered.

As we come to the end of another year, what have you left behind? How have you lived? Where have you walked? What have others learned from you? Based on those answers, what resolutions or commitments should you make for the coming year?

Walk in integrity and godliness so that you may bless those who come after you.