Jun
22
2013
The Legacy
Posted in Faith 2 Comments
I happened to watch an old Little House on the Prairie episode.
It is one of my favorites, called The Legacy.
It begins with a couple driving to a barn sale.
An old table is one of the items up for auction.
It is a beautiful piece with initials imprinted under one of the drop leaves.
The woman really wants to have this table and begins to bid on it.
As the camera pans closer to the imprint, we are transported to the town of Sleepy Eye.
Pa is unloading a beautiful table which will be sold at a store in town.
The owner talks to Pa about making more of his tables since they sell so quickly.
He explains how much time it takes to make even one table.
The people will have to be patient.
He travels home in the wagon with his friend, Jack Prescott, who came to town with him.
They stop for the night during a storm.
Jack is in a pensive mood and begins to share his heart.
Do you ever want to do something different, Charles…something just for you?
I want to do something important.
I want the world to know that Jack Prescott was here.
Charles listens, not knowing what to say in reply.
In the night, Jack wakes up with horrible chest pains, has a heart attack and dies.
His death affects Pa deeply as he remembers Jack’s words.
The next time he brings one of his tables to Sleepy Eye, the store manager offers Charles a full time job making his beautiful design.
Charles talks it over with his wife and despite her objection, decides he must do this.
He must leave a legacy.
He doesn’t want to end up like Jack Prescott.
She wisely tells him that his legacy is in his children.
Her words are not heard.
Charles goes and lives in town for a three month trial period.
The demand for his tables is great until a wealthy man buys a table to use as a prototype.
He copies Charles’ design, mass produces it, and sells his copy very cheaply.
Orders for Charles’ table are cancelled.
After, confronting the wealthy man, Charles understands the wisdom of his wife’s words.
His legacy is not in a piece of furniture…it is in his children.
He heads home to Walnut Grove.
Jehoram and Uzziah, two kings of Judah, died without leaving much of a legacy.
Jehoram led the people astray by building the high places in the hills of Judah.
People worshiped other gods there and turned from the Living God.
Jehoram also murdered his own brothers.
It was prophesied by Elijah that Jehoram would die of a lingering disease.
All of that came to pass.
He died in great pain. His people made no fire in his honor, as they had for his fathers. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away to no one’s regret and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tomb of the kings. (2 Chronicles 21:19,20)
Uzziah was sisteen years old when he became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years…He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God…But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest, with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord, followed him in. They confronted him and and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord…Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful, and you will not be honored by the Lord God…While he was raging at the priests…leprosy broke out on his forehead…King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house, leprous, and excluded from the temple of the Lord.
(2 Chronicles 26:3-5,16-18,19,21)
Even though Uzziah was a good king, his pride caught up with him.
He dishonored the Lord and did not obey the Lord in the way He wanted to be worshiped.
When Uzziah died, all the good he did during his reign seemed to be forgotten.
After he was buried, all the people said was, “He had leprosy.” (2 Chronicles 26:23)
Legacy.
Something handed down.
Something that lasts.
For good or for evil, our legacy is what will be remembered.
Not a legacy like King Jehoram who died to no one’s regret.
Not a legacy like King Uzziah whose pride and disobedience resulted in a leprous punishment and was the only thing the people remembered.
Not a legacy in a piece of furniture with imprinted initials that are all but forgotten.
But a legacy of faith…a heritage of walking with the Lord…a passing the baton of faith.
I will utter hidden things, things from of old – what we have heard and known , what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders he has done…He commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn will tell their children. (Psalm 78:2-6)
The legacy outlives you.
The legacy is passed down through the generations.
The legacy that endures and produces generational fruit is a legacy of faith.
Faith in the One, true God who is known through His Son, Jesus.
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. (poem by C.T. Studd)
Dear Gina, Our mother blessed her children everyday by the words she spoke and her loving actions. She played Christian music on the radio daily, and we were blessed “daily” by God’s Word and song! One of my favorites was worded, “Others, Lord, Yes…. others….Let this my motto be! Help me to live for others, that I may live like Thee.” My mother’s legacy lives on in many beautiful ways that “glorify” our Lord! In His Love, Linda Leinbach.
Linda,
You were very blessed to have a mother like yours.
A mother that loved you and taught you about the Lord.
She left you the best kind of legacy.
What a gift!
Gina