All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. -Hebrews 11:13, NIV
Hebrews 11:4-12 lists a group of people who lived by faith. Verse 13 points to an important feature of faith and its connection to legacy. To have faith does not mean you get to see the fruits of that faith. You may not see your offspring. None of the people listed actually lived long enough to experience what God had shown them. Similarly, African American slaves envisioned and fought for freedom but did not experience freedom themselves. They had faith that slavery would be abolished. It happened, but most of them never saw it. All of these people believed that they had a legacy to leave behind for future generations.
What is the legacy you want to leave behind for generations to come? It doesn’t have to be material, in fact, the best legacy is the intangible one. While they left behind a nation built on their blood, sweat, and tears, African American slaves also left behind a legacy of intangibles, including justice, tenacity, innovation, community, futuristic thinking, love, and faith.
While Abram/Abraham was known as the physical father of many, that was not his only legacy. He also had a spiritual legacy – a legacy of faith.
This is good news for all of us. It means that we don’t have to have children to leave a legacy. It also means that we don’t have to be rich, famous, or otherwise successful by worldly standards to leave a legacy to our children or to the world. All we have to do is leave a gift that keeps on giving.
Here at Love Speaks Daily, as the name implies, we want to leave a legacy of love. We believe as 1 Corinthians 13:13 states that the greatest thing is love. Like faith, love is free, and both are gifts that keep on giving.
So, our question for you today is this, what is your legacy worth leaving?