As a younger guy some times I have conversations that astound me. It isn't because they are amazing or deeply world changing. It is because they seem to be out of place.
These conversations aren't "bad" per say they are just peculiar.
I love to think long term. I took a test one time that said one of my strengths is strategic thinking, which I am still trying to figure out, but a portion of that is to be able to look far out and think about how decisions will play out or affect other things.
Most of the time I love thinking strategically about all sorts of ideas and thoughts. However at times it does lead to randomly placed conversations that seem out of place.
They seem out of place because I don't know a lot of young people who regularly talk about their legacy and building and positioning their lives to leave a legacy.
A large portion of young people and even older people rarely take time to think about the future or what story will be told about them after they are gone. Many today simply live trying to make it through today.
It is our daily decisions that determine our legacy.
I love this quote from the book "Story of Marriage" by John and Lisa Bevere:
“Only heaven will reveal the full impact of God’s covenant expressed through your relationship with him. He desires to reach every life that passes through you (your legacy) and every life that falls within your realm of influence. This means you have to embrace a vision that doesn’t end with you and isn’t confined to your limited understanding. God’s intention for your story will always include the generations to come.”
I love that last line! "God's intention for your story will always include the generations to come."
We live in a short term society, the microwave society, where many times our thoughts and actions revolve around finding the most gratifying solution that takes the shortest amount of time.
When I look at the Bible and the many lessons portrayed and communicated throughout the books and chapters I see a theme through the language of Generations.
God is a generational God. He looks through time from beginning to the end and from the end back through to the beginning. He understands how each and every person's life affects every other person on the planet. We forget that.
We forget that we have the ability to live in such a way that it impacts the world around us. Many times we are reminded of the power of our stories when we do something wrong and we see how our lives can negatively impact those around us. That same influence and ability can be harnessed through intentionality to change the world for generations to come.
What if we began to live our lives with legacy in mind?
What would happen if the generation alive on the earth today began to live with intentionality in developing legacy?
You see I think we that we leave a legacy with every single person that we encounter. We are constantly creating and leaving legacies. Each new person we meet we have the opportunity to leave them with a positive or negative remembrance of us, a legacy.
“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
My prayer for the generation alive today, in local churches and pursuing Jesus around the world, is that we would be a generation of people who understand and work hard to create a legacy for the generations to come. I pray that daily our decisions would be made with legacy in mind.
I pray that our legacy would be that we were a generation that moved the heart of God to send revival and that we would be a generation with a legacy of Heaven invading Earth.