Legacy

2019 - What does the year hold in store for you? I pray you have a positive outlook.

The Definition of Legacy: The dictionary would define Legacy as a gift or a bequest, that is handed down, endowed or conveyed from one person to another. It is something descendible. One comes into possession of that is transmitted, inherited or received from a predecessor.

What gifts, bequest, endowments, or inheritances, do you plan to hand down to your predecessors?

If you have a long and distinguished career, you may hand down knowledge of your job, intricate, detailed knowledge that came from years of trying and failing, trying and succeeding. You may do this through mentor-ship or through a series of notes or lectures.

You may have amassed a small fortune. You may wish to pass it down to your children, grandchildren, some non profit organizations, and if you’re not prepared, the government will insert themselves into your will.

You may have great spiritual qualities you have mentored and are passing down. Your ability to understand the scriptures and translate them into deep practical meaning, or maybe the original languages are a gift you are able to teach.

It might be you are generous with your time, you possess a spirit of gentleness, patience, prayer, or a particular skill or hobby/tradition you wish to pass on.

You may be so good at your craft, people remember you for your generosity, ingenuity, artistry, or other notable gifts.

As I read the book of Ecclesiastes the Lois Brinkley plaque out front came to my mind. Why? To some of us she was a real generous person with her time and spiritual gifts. She blessed many she came into contact with.

I was reminded we are a generation away from being forgotten.

I turned to Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived for some advice.

Remember he asked God for wisdom and God was impressed with his request and granted wisdom to him.

1 Kings 3:5–9 NKJV

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

1 Kings 3:5

tells us, upon Queen Sheba’s visit to Solomon

1 Kings 10:3–9 NKJV

So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. Then she said to the king: “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard. Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.”

1 Kings 11:3–9 NKJV

And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,

1 Kings 11:3-

After all this, I turn to the book of Ecclesiastes to find and hear sound advice. I was quickly reminded of his emptiness. You don’t have to read the book of Ecclesiastes but a few short verses to find out this guy isn’t happy with his own choices. His wealth, his fame, his good fortune from both God and his father David were somewhat squandered.

What I wanted to hear was sound advice. I was quickly reminded of his emptiness. You don’t have to read the book of Ecclesiastes but a few short verses to find out this guy isn’t happy with his own choices. His wealth, his fame, his good fortune from both God and his father David were somewhat squandered.

One could say he was the richest, wisest man that ever lived was unhappy.

We don’t have to look far to see similar tragedy. Forbes magazine printed an article of the demise of ten of the richest men in the world including Oklahoma native Aubrey McClendon, of Chesapeake Energy.

How do we avoid the mistake of self-righteousness?

How do we trend in the best direction? How do we hold our place and inspire others? How do we keep evil out of our fortune, whatever it is, and our families on a solid track to inherit the best gifts?

What are the best gifts? How do we best avoid misfortune, gain trust, influence, and provide leadership?

How do we become the best mom and dad one can write about? How do we leave a legacy that is positive? How do we keep our voids full of good and not evil, and what do we fill them with that will last?

How do we interpret the times, seasons of our life and the life of those around us for their good and not our own?

I’m going to address these over the coming weeks.

Solomon will help us with the “what not to do.”

Solomon uses the word Vanity 37 times in the book. Vanity: the futile emptiness of trying to be happy apart from God.

Solomon uses this word to express the many things that cannot be understood about this life.

All earthly goals and ambitions when pursued as ends in themselves lead to dissatisfaction and mistrust, frustration and violations of justice.

Solomon also uses the term “under the sun” twenty nine times.

I want you to read the book of Ecclesiastes, but I want you to do me a favor and read it in the ESV or the CEV version, not the King James. In these versions, the word vanity it changed to “pointless” and I think the interpretation is easily understood.

As you make your 2019 New Years Resolutions, or better stated, goals, Solomon would like you to consider them in these categories:

What can I do for God

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

Love His word and teach it to others

What can I do for others

How do I make others more important than myself

Google “I Am Second” and find the story of Norm Miller, Interstate Batteries CEO and learn about his life and why he created the evangelistic series “I Am Second.”

How do I improve my serve: make this a category in your goal setting

Read the story of Scott Harrison, founder of Charity Water again and be inspired. You can make a difference for others.

How can I be more generous

Giving - generosity is vital to legacy

Money is not the gift - time is

Enjoy life as you go

Ecclesiastes 3:13 NKJV

and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

How can I love authentically

Solomon says “Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life...”

4:9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor

How can I live wisely

Ecclesiastes 9:13–18 NKJV

This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. Then I said: “Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, And his words are not heard. Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war; But one sinner destroys much good.”

Ecclesiastes 9:

Last but not least,

Read Ecc 2:18-26

5. What can I do for God: He has the last word

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

Ecclesiastes 3:11–13 NKJV

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 3:10-13

Love His word and teach it to others

Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 12:13 NKJV

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.

John 10:9 NKJV

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

John