legacy

what will be my legacy? i dont know if i have asked my self that lately, but i have been thinking about legacy. i have been thinking about my actions among others that i have influence over. about, what matters in forming a legacy. is it self perception or being able to step outside of your self. or if you think about legacy, does it mean that you probably won't have much of one...?

i dont know. somehow i think that our disciplines will determine our legacy. mark batterson had a quote on fb the other day, 'your ultimate destiny will be determined by your daily disciplines'. i liked that a lot! and it kicked me in the junk a lot at the same time.

i have no idea what my legacy will be, i really don't know that i am concerned with it too much. about the here and the now of legacy, when we are gone...make sense? but i am concerned with my ultimate destiny and making my life count for what counts! and it comes down, so many times, to the simple things. the daily things.

i posted several weeks ago that i was thinking about legacy. this past sunday, a student who i had ministered to about 3 or 4 years ago, ran into me as i was coming out of church...he was walking in. when i first met him he did not have a bible and i really had no idea of his spiritual background. but sunday he held up a tattered bible and said to me, 'look what i still have!' it was a bible that i had given to him at an outreach event the very first time i met him...it felt so good to see him holding that bible! it was something i needed to see...it reminded me of what God had done through me. the Story that He has included me in. the fact that He isnt done with me.

i am thinking legacy has to do with obedience. suffering instead of status. selflessness instead of selfishness. maturity. following more than leading. remembering and looking forward at the same time.

thanks for allowing random thoughts to flow from me... 2 posts in one week! you gotta be kidding me! have a good weekend. see ya in a week or so...

motives

Fran posted a comment on the post before this one, methods vs. message, that has bothered me for a couple of days.  you do have to go back and read the post and maybe even watch the video on the site it is linked to before reading on...  you dont want to?  i know...i never do either, but seriously...it will make more sense!  

ok, the conversation about is it ok for methods to change, but the message must never change...and fran asks the question, what about the motive? does it change the message and the method?  in a word, YES...sounds easy at first.  think about this though, God's message is him desiring to be known among all the people of the world.  His fame, His glory, His renown....that is why God does what He does.  God is into God! (as Louie Giglio says).  I believe that...His method of letting the world know that He is God is, you... and me.... us, one could say, The Church.  collectively, we show people who God is!  individually, we show people who God is!  you ought to re-read those last two sentences...if they didn't scare the hell out of you, you should re-read them several times...

if our motive is anything other than showing people who God is, it changes everything!  if we want to have the coolest, hippest church in town, b/c we like to show off how innovative and cool we are...that is how we show God to the world.  God is a show-off.  if we want to have the most traditional church in town...that is how we show God to the world.  God is boring.  if we choose to do nothing and be complacent about everything that goes on in the world today...that is how we show God to the world.  God is out of touch and is way too big to care about anything we do.  

motive is HUGE!  i could not say it any better than this...

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God.  Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God.  The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love--so you might live through him.  This is the kind of love we are talking about--not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.

My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other.  No one has seen God, ever.  But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us--perfect love!        1 John 4:7-12 The Message (emphasis mine)

this piggy backs on what Fran says here. 

God is love, and it is our job to show people who He is.  now i know that seems simple to say and there are a lot of doctrinal belief statements, and figuring out how to put flesh on that seems next to impossible with all of the stuff that goes along with modern day western culture church... maybe we should just try to go one step at a time though, first, realize that we are beloved!  that is huge!  second, love each other.  third, allow God to dwell deeply within us and let his love become complete in us...perfect love!

the motive would be pure, the message would be truth and the method would be complete!  i pray that this would become reality in my life as well as everyone who has the love of Christ inside of them!  

peace!