Insights on Life Archives - Page 9 of 9

YOUR LEGACY: WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE IT TO BE?

It is your legacy! What would you like it to be? How will your family — and the world — remember you? It is one of life’s most important decisions. Society will forget what you have accomplished, but they will long remember how you lived your life.

Speaking to a group of sport’s professionals, the speaker challenged the players to leave a legacy of which they could be genuinely proud. He began by asking how many of them knew the name of their great-grandfather. Then he asked how many of them knew where he was buried. Most hands stayed down on that one, and then, “he made his point: ‘Each of us is just three to four generations away from extinction.’ Silence gripped the room. How sobering to think that, just a few generations down the family tree, no one would even know that I had ever existed!” (from Ravi Zacharias, The Grand Weaver, p. 65).

It is an issue every thinking man must consider. After a life-time of living, rearing a family, fighting for success, and, perhaps, gaining the admiration of our peers, we will each fade from the scene and leave behind a short history of our having come and gone. That is your legacy; the question is, “What kind of legacy will it be?”

Life is such that we each cast a long shadow. Every one of us leaves an impact on the people that we have influenced – for good or for bad. We will influence our friends and our family by the principles by which we lived. Our family will reflect our religious beliefs, our world view, and our concept of right and wrong. Character lives on! What we have told them will be overshadowed by who we were. For good or bad, they will model the life we lived.

It is in the home that we learn all the fundamental qualities of character and life. Our view of honesty, patience, courage, loyalty, self-discipline, responsibility and even our faith, have been conditioned by the convictions and life-style we inherited from our parents. We, in turn, pass our training on to the next generation. Those who follow after us will benefit or be cursed by the principles we lived by.

We have been highlighting in this column that God is committed to helping us model, here and now, the persons we are going to be “then and there,” that is, in life after death. That is as true in the social as it is in the religious realm. None of us lives to ourselves. We will inevitably influence those who have admired us and the convictions by which we have lived. While there is yet time and opportunity, can we re-chart the life we are living? Absolutely –and you know what I am going to say — it begins with God.

THE INQUISITION OF MY SELF

One can scarcely imagine what it would be like, over a span of some 60 years, to house and care for 10,024 children. George Muller did so, and what was most outstanding, he did so without disclosing his financial needs to anyone but God. Self-interests were subordinated to the divine will, and God honored the effort. The secret of his success was disclosed when he made this observation:

George Muller surendered his self to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That made him a success! — George Muller

“There was a day when I died; died to self, my opinion, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of my brethren or friends; and since then I have studied only to show myself approved of God (from AZ Quotes, George Muller Quotes). Additionally, he founded 117 schools, and provided education to more than 120,000 children prior to his death in 1898 (Wikipedia, George Muller).

It is almost impossible for any of us to reach that level of self-sacrifice, even when our surrender is to God. I believe it can be stated that, almost without exception, every human conflict comes down to the issue of self. Some call it the ego, the Bible calls it the flesh, but whatever you call it, self demands to be King! Self is in the docket; it has been tried and found guilty.

I have been humbled, shamed, and distressed beyond words to discover that after years of prayer, self-discipline and living by my Christian convictions, my self is still clamoring to believe the world revolves around me! I was, of course, born that way. Within just a few moments after birth, my Doctor thought I needed a “good one” across the backside. Ten minutes old, and my temper exploded! I let the world know what I thought of these miserable creatures called people. I began life demanding my own way. Although restricted by common sense, my parents, and the law, I have continued to demand my own way ever since.

“Every person … is seeking to build and establish his own self-image, his own self, his own empire. The most naturally loving and kind are yet fully “selfish.”… [O]utside of the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ, the flesh will rule and destroy (Sandford, Restoring the Christian Family, Ch. 11).

My personal faith is strong, but I must admit that dealing with self-centered tendencies is tough. I’d rather play the fiddle and have the rest of the world dance to my tune! I want to be a cut above … the best there is … the most admired. You know what I mean; it’s the same old song!

Many of us have a sincere desire to model the Master; we just want to do so on our own terms! Man’s way and God’s way have been in conflict ever since those heady days in the Garden of Eden. By nature, we don’t want anyone – including God – to tell us how to live. I, too, would enjoy a life of unrestrained freedom, if only I could avoid the consequences.

I am still motivated by the drive to be supreme. I am also pleased to tell you I am changing, and, despite the struggle, I remain positive. I believe in a God of the impossible, a God of second chances. As I have often signed-off in my journal, PBPGITWMY! Please be patient; God isn’t through with me yet!

WHEN LIFE COMES UNGLUED: THE STORY OF MY LIFE

I was sitting in my office one Saturday afternoon recently, relaxed, listening to the music of Bill Gaither and his Vocal Band. The Band has always been a favorite of ours, but one song that day

brought back dark, unwelcome memories. It reminded me of a time in my life I shall never forget. The quintet began to sing, At The Cross, an old Christian hymn and I attempted to sing along. Instead, I choked up and began to sob.

I remembered well the day many yeas ago when I first heard the Vocal Band sing this same rendition. I was half-way across Texas in my 18-wheeler going nowhere. As the Vocal Band started to sing, something electric began to happen. “At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, and the burdens of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day.”

But I wasn’t. Far from enjoying my ride through life, it was a time of trauma, uncertainty, and despair. I began to sing with them. The song was well-known, a hymn with which I was familiar from my earliest days. But this time was far from routine.

I began to sing with them, but never made it through the chorus. I wept uncontrollably and for a few moments the cab of my truck became a sanctuary. God was there and that day marked the beginning of my reconstruction. Slowly, without fanfare, I began to put my life back together. This book was born amid a desperate, disorienting twenty-year parenthesis in my life. Please believe that I am neither bragging nor complaining.

The story of my life reflects a deep-felt appreciation for what God has done for me. Once you are aware of how far I have come from the lowest of all lows you will know why Jesus Christ has come to mean so much to me. My failures are legendary, but such is life. And, when the chips are down, God is not prone to always explain what is going on. I am pleased to say that it wasn’t drugs, or alcohol, or women, and my conscience is clear. No one person was at fault, but I had made some terribly unfortunate choices and life had thrown me a wicked curve.

When I reflect on where my sweetheart and I are today, it challenges believability. If you knew me better, you could easily understand my love for Jesus Christ. I realize now He was nearby, unrecognized in the darkness, watching carefully over my progress, he was there.

My friends will tell you I am no fanatic, but I am deeply grateful for what God – and I am convinced it was God – has done in my life. He is a God of second chances, a God of the impossible, and the thoughts about which I write are more than empty words. They are the story of my life.

OPEN PRAIRIES … NO FENCES

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As best I can remember, I was headed east in my 18-wheeler on a two-lane highway, far off the “beaten track,” relaxed, intrigued by the open prairies before me, enjoying the ride.

I had traveled but a few miles when I spotted a sign, “WATCH FOR CATTLE.” Suddenly I realized, no fences! As far as the eye could see, not a one! It felt as though I was looking at early America, the long since forgotten “home on the range.” Wouldn’t it be great if life were like that? No fences! Do as you please, ignore the rules, live for the pleasures life brings.

I am well aware there are many who are attempting to live just that way. America is, after all, the land of the free; we only go around once. Enjoy! But can we live without a fence or two? Can life be sustained without restrictions, self-discipline and responsibility? History has shown that unrestrained freedom often leads to chaos, and that we do not want.

Ravi Zacharias, writing in Deliver Us From Evil, makes this observation: “[T]here must be fences in life, else predators, with unrestrained and insatiable passions, will break down every wall of protection and relentlessly plunder everything we treasure.

“For America, in particular, her quest is poignantly defined in the noble but difficult pursuit of reconciling liberty with law. “Confirm thy soul with self-control, thy liberty with law” was not just poetic license. It was the vision. It was the dream. It was the central idea. It is not an accident of American history, therefore, that to this very day the nation is embroiled in debates over rights of privacy versus legislative authority. Morality, freedom, self-determination, happiness, sexuality, and security are all personal in their application. But nationally, they impinge upon the legislative role of government as it makes liberties possible for the protection of each and the benefit of all” (pp. 20, 29).

Perhaps nowhere is the balance between law and liberty more critical than in the home. Some parents, in an effort to teach personal responsibility, have raised their children virtually without restraint. No fences! They demand little self-discipline, issuing requests rather that orders, suggestions rather than rules. And what do you get? A spoiled, self-centered, demanding, brat!

Life isn’t designed that way; the fences are there and they stand to our benefit. Happiness is not found in what we do, but in who we are. Character is priority one! What is true in the natural realm is also true in the spiritual realm. The Apostle Paul put it this way. Special qualities, known in Christian circles as “the fruit of the Spirit,” are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” We call that character.

These qualities of life are most generally best developed in times of stress, when the fences demand restraint and self-discipline. We are not alone in this struggle, however. Jesus, well aware of the stresses in life we all face, said, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Although the Christian life is not always easy, and the fences still stand, it is always good!

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