Have you given thought to the legacy you are leaving? Whether you realize it or not, you are leaving a legacy. The question is, are you leaving the legacy you want to leave? Every day, what you say and what you do shape a future that others will live in. Every decision you make is part of a story someone will inherit. The question is: what story are you telling?
Maya Angelou said, “Your legacy is every life you touch.” I read recently that legacy is not a matter of monuments or money. Legacy is a matter of impact. It’s about the unseen ripples you create, even in the quiet moments you think do not matter.
So, what legacy are you leaving?
Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, gives us a glimpse of the legacy that Timothy has received.
Read 2 Timothy 1:3-7
I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
Reflect on 2 Timothy 1:3-7
Paul writes to Timothy from a jail cell. Since he can’t be with him, he writes to guide Timothy in his ministry. He tells him to “remember Jesus Christ…, as preached in my gospel.” All that Timothy has is a memory of Paul’s words. It is just words, but it is the gospel. It is this gospel, says Paul, “for which I am suffering and wearing chains like a criminal. But the word of God is not fettered.”
While chained is some Roman Alcatraz, Paul reminds Timothy that they can’t chain the gospel. So, Paul encourages Timothy, “do your best to present yourself to God…, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
Paul writes these words because Timothy, while in ministry in the church in Ephesus, has begun to face a strong and outspoken resistance. The more the opposition, the more difficult it becomes for him. He believes in the gospel. He has been hand-picked by Paul. He knows his message is true. Yet he is losing his influence and authority within the very faith community he has been chosen to serve.
Leave a Legacy
So, Paul begins to leave a legacy. He reminds Timothy of his own belief and confidence in him. He tells Timothy how grateful he is for the ministry they share and that he prays for him night and day.
He reminds Timothy of the legacy he has received from his family. Paul writes, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure lives in you.”
Then Paul encourages him. “It is for this reason that I write to remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you…” From his prison cell, Paul addresses Timothy’s disappointment, he challenges Timothy to rediscover and reignite the power of the Holy Spirit in his day-to-day faithfulness.
“God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” Paul is reminding Timothy of the legacy that would lead him into faithful ministry.
It will take Holy Spirit power, Christlike love, and perseverance to lead and minister in a world that rejects the gospel.
Respond to 2 Timothy 1:3-7
We are receiving a legacy of courage, power, love, and self-discipline through Timothy. It takes courage to lead at this point and time in history. Your courage comes from your continual consciousness of the presence of Jesus.
By God’s grace, there is power to cope with disappointment, to stand tall in the face of adversity, to keep the faith in the midst of sorrow and despair. It takes God given power to pass the breaking point and not break.
It takes love for people to lead with integrity and authenticity. The legacy of love given to you is strong enough to love people regardless of situation or circumstance. The only way to face the challenges of ministry is to keep your focus upon God’s love, agape, and to love the people entrusted to your care with agape.
Legacy of Self-Control
There is also the legacy of self-control. It is the ability to control yourself in the face of panic, fear, disappointment, discouragement, or passion. Self-control is a God given gift given when you surrender yourself to God’s love. Your self-control is strengthened when you love and serve others with generosity and grace.
I am sure there are many examples of this legacy, but there was one person in history who embodied all four. Her name was Jane Haining. In 1932 at the age of thirty-five, Jane volunteered to work with the Church of Scotland’s mission to the Jews of Budapest. Her warm spirit and Scottish brogue made her popular and loved among the children she taught at the mission school. Her faith deepened as she loved her students. God was present in her work as her faithfulness grew.
In one letter back to friends she wrote “We have one new little six-year-old, an orphan without a mother or a father. She is such a pathetic wee soul to look at and I fear, poor lamb, has not been in too good surroundings before she came to us . . . she certainly does look as though she needs heaps and heaps of love.” So heaping love is what Haining gave her children at the mission school.
Love and Faith on the Way to Heaven
Jane was on leave in Scotland when World War II broke out. But instead of staying in a secure place for the duration of the war, she traveled back to Hungary. In 1944 when the Nazis invaded Hungary the Scottish missionaries were ordered home. Jane chose to stay with her children. “If these children need me in the days of sunshine,” she said, “how much more do they need me in the days of darkness?”
The love and faith Jane Haining experienced by working with her Jewish children was greater than the bitterness they would face in the days to come.
Ordered to sew yellow Stars of David on the clothes of the orphan girls, she wet each star with her tears. A month later she was arrested for “offences” that included spying, working with Jews and listening to the BBC. She was deported, along with many of her students to Auschwitz in May of 1944. In the next three months, over 1,300,000 Auschwitz prisoners were killed. Her last message to friends was a postcard asking for food with these words: “There is not much to report here on the way to heaven.”
A Legacy of Love
In the summer of 1944, Jane Haining, tattooed with the number 79467, died. She was gassed alongside her Hungarian colleagues and children. Her name is inscribed near that of Oskar Schindler’s on the Holocaust memorial in Israel.
Jane Haining is thought to be the only Scot to be slain in the Nazi death camps. She is remembered in the stained-glass windows of Queen’s Park Church in Glasgow.
A British woman who sacrificed her life by refusing to leave Jewish orphans in her care is remembered as one of the forgotten heroes of the Holocaust.
What a legacy! I am sure that neither you nor I are being called to leave that kind of legacy, but you do leave a legacy with what you do and what you say. So, have you given thought to the legacy you are leaving?
I am Grateful to God
As Paul began to hand off his ministry, he was leaving his legacy to the one coming behind him.
Take just a minute to think of those who are entrusted to your care. Whether they be your children, your co-workers, fellow church members, or friends at the club reflect upon what you are leaving behind to shape their faith and to encourage their loving and living.
What one thing will you say or do that will shape their lives with positive love and faith?
“I am grateful to God…when I remember you in my prayers night and day.”
Return to 1 Timothy
Give God thanks for the people you met today. Were you aware of your words and actions? Who did you include in your love and care today? How did you work for the good of people around you? How will your community be different because of the presence of Christ in and through you? As you reflect upon and grow into the legacy you are leaving, what will you do differently tomorrow?
Give God thanks for the opportunities you had to love others as you have been loved. Ask God to give you the faith to live and lead with quiet trust and confidence. Who you are is how you lead. What legacy are you leaving?