How To Leave a Legacy of Faith Explained

#1 TELL IT – Remember schools and churches don’t raise children…parents do! Teach what the Bible says…to be honest, trustworthy, have integrity, depend on God, never lie, to be like Christ, etc.

Duet 6:5-says: “Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your homes and on your gates.”

In other words……always be telling it. Tell what the Lord has done for you. You may not know God’s Word but you know what He’s done for YOU in your life.

But we don’t just tell our “children”. We influence our husbands, friends, neighbors, co-workers, other family members….everyone we come into contact with, so….TELL IT!

#2 LIVE IT– We create a legacy of faith not by grand plans, but by what we do everyday. How we act, have we respond, how stress affects us. How we handle situations. Where we go when we need help….to God! Be Christ’s example…a living Bible for others to read because you are an open book. You are also God’s hands and feet on earth….so LIVE IT!

#3 DOCUMENT IT – Record your spiritual journey. Our beliefs make up who we are. I want my children and grandchildren to know the prayers I’ve prayed, the blessings I’ve received, the lessons I’ve learned, how God has worked in my life and how He can work in their lives. I want to tell my story. If I don’t tell it, who will?

You know, I am more than a mother, a friend, a sister. My character is defined by my beliefs, my personality and the way I interact with others.

We tend to forget over time what others say so getting it on paper is always a great idea. I do, fortunately have some written accounts of some of my ancestors. Others are just a fog….no clue. Your story can get lost if you don’t document it.

How many of you know what your great grandmother was like, what she believed, what she did, how she reacted to life? Her accomplishments, her thoughts, her victories and her battles? Did she work? What were her hobbies? Do you know how she responded to stress? Did she have a relationship to God? Did she depend on God and live for Him?
Knowing that your grandmother knew how to sew and make quilts is interesting but knowing she depended on God will impact your life and strengthen your faith.

There are Three Ways to Document and Record Your Spiritual Journey

#1 Take what God has taught you and put it on a page for others to read. You can become an author and write a book – do a biography and tell what God has done in your life.

#2 Journal your thoughts in written text or book form. This a great way especially for those who love to read. Write down your thoughts and date each one. Jot down those God moments. A wonderful way!

#3 Make a Legacy of Faith Scrapbook or a photo album plus journaling and other things to make it pretty and enjoyable to look at. Everyone usually has family photos and loves to look at them. The photos help to tell the story with more than just words

I’ve never been that big of reader. I would love to have a journal written by my grandmother, etc. BUT…..page after page of text can be daunting for me. I love photos and pretty things. They draw my attention. A scrapbook will do it all. It’s also my creative outlet.

As you begin to record your spiritual journey it will build others faith as well as your own when you see how God has worked in your life. It will also let people know who you really are.

Documenting Your Faith

We all have a legacy to leave. I want my legacy of faith to be documented. Recently I starting putting what I believe about God in scrapbook form. Everyone loves photos. It's been said they paint a thousand words. Well, words yes. But I want to express more than just what is in the photo. I want there to be no doubt years from now how my faith was so very important to me. I am also a genealogist and I have researched my family tree. The efforts of my research have given me countless names, places, some occupations and a few photos. Those are all great. And every now and then I get lucky and get a few family stories. But.....the branches of the tree outside of my closest realtives produce little more than that. I long for more! I want to know how my ancestors lived and what they believed in. I want to know their struggles and victories. I want to know if they believed in God and how He worked in their life. I want to be encouraged by their faith. There hasn't been much documented in that area so far, so.....I will strive to do that for my family. I want to share what the Lord has done in my life and how He is always with me through every aspect of my life. I want to share my heart and the real me. So the documenting journey begins......

What is a Legacy?

The dictionary has a couple of definitions:

#1 a bequest made in a will: money or property that is left to somebody in a will

#2 something from the past that’s handed down or remains from a previous generation or time

So, it’s something you pass down to the next generation.

Everyone has a legacy…good or bad. What do you think others would say about you after you’re gone? What would you like them to say? The most important thing you can leave is a Legacy of Faith. Before we go any further……remember….

You can’t pass on what you don’t originally possess. If you’ve never had a wonderful life changing experience by asking Jesus to come into your life and save you from your sins, cleanse you, and set you on a new path, then I’d encourage you to consider doing that today. We’re not guaranteed tomorrow, or even tonight. We all have a beginning and an end. When it’s all over, all that matters is where you end up. There are only two choices….heaven or hell. Don’t wait. You can live your entire life and not really live unless you have God in your life.

But why would you want to leave a legacy of faith?

The Bible says in Psalm 78:3-7:

“What we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us, we will not hide them from our children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, His power, and the wonders He has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which 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 would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget His deeds but would keep his commands.”

So we are to tell the next generation and the next….about God so they can come to know and trust Him and so they will not forget. So we can let others know what we believe about God and how He has changed our lives. And to offer encouragement for the present and future generations to put their confidence in Christ as well. When we leave a Legacy of Faith we help create a strong foundation on which others can build their lives and leave behind a heritage of who we really are.

Do you have a legacy of faith to pass on? Every legacy of faith has its point of beginning. Maybe your family didn’t leave a legacy of faith. But you can have the awesome privilege of being the first in line, the beginning point, for generations to come. ….OR continue the legacy of faith already established. You can make a difference! What kind of legacy do you want to leave?