Legacy?

In a class I am taking, I was asked to write about passing on or teaching my kids about living a life to leave a legacy. In doing that what values would I want to pass on. Here are my initial thoughts:

This is a starting point for the lessons and values that I hope will be passed on to my kids. The first is a caution about leaving a legacy. Understanding the long term impact of our daily choices is an important focus. However, one has to be cautious that the focus of that impact does not become skewed by trying to please others or the wrong the culture. The focus has to be rightly directed. So the first point might be that it’s not about you. Life is not about me. Life must be focused on God not on my selfishness. This is a constant battle especially in a Western culture that lives and dies by motto’s like “Have it your way” (Burger King). Life cannot always be lived your way. The second point might be that since it’s not about you, “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”[1] This verse portrays the correct focus for my life. By focusing on God in all areas He will take care of laying out your legacy. For some that legacy may be a spotlight but for others a martyr or a missionary that finds one lost soul. A third point would be that freedom comes from knowing the truth and obeying that truth (John 8:31). A pastor once said that we know way more than what we are obedient to. Knowing and doing are two different things. One without the other provides head knowledge or blind action and combined they lead to heart change. Fourth would be for them to learn and understand their worldview and to make sure that world view align with the absolute truth of the Bible and is not relativism disguised in the many forms offered by the world – humanism, science, tolerance, etc. Last would be to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The battle in life is over our thoughts. Keeping our thoughts in line with truth allows us to stay on the right track, keep the right focus, and have the right impact. That impact is the difference between living for the temporal and living for the eternal.
[1]The New King James Version. 1996, c1982 (Mt 22:37). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.