To Leave a Legacy

I love how Television shows can put intense feelings and fears so easily into words that we find a hard time expressing.

As I was watching Bones there was an exchange that really got to me.  Temperance and Booth are investigating the murder of a doctor.  It turns out that the doctor was perhaps the greatest heart surgeon on the East Coast.  Nobody has noticed that she was missing, no one has made a big deal that the greatest heart surgeon is dead.

Temperance is upset by this.  It disturbs her.  When she asks how it is that no one has remembered, the heart surgeon's supervisor responds with this line:

"'I will show you fear and a handful of dust.' T.S. Elliot.  We don't actually fear death.  We fear that no one will notice our absence.  That we will disappear without a trace." (Bones Season 6, Episode 9)

How true is that?  Men want to have children for many reasons, but one of the reasons is so that their name will live on.

It is the greatest dream for a musician for their work to live after they die.

We want to be remembered after for generations to come.


I like to write.  I also like it when other people read my writings.  I would love someday to have a book that was so good that it would live on after I cease living.

How do you think the writers of the Gospels feel?  Their names live on forever, we remember Paul, Peter, John, and Luke.

It brings us to an interesting point.  As Christians we are called to step back and let Christ shine through us.  Yet we remember those original Apostles for the great things that they did.

Where is the line between separating my actions and what Christ is using me to do?

The book of Hebrews is one of my favorites in the Bible.  It has great content, but that is not the only reason I like it so much.

I have a question for you.  Who wrote Hebrews?


Can't answer it, can you?  Paul, John, Luke, Barnabas, Apollos, Pricilla, or a handful of others have been speculated as the Author of Hebrews.

I think that's why I like it so much.  We don't know who wrote Hebrews.  This is a book that it truly not for the author's glory.  This book is all for God's glory.

In the movie Joyful Noise one of the main characters is having a fierce debate with her mother.  The topic of the debate?  How do you step back and say I'm not doing this for my glory, but God's?

That's the real question in life, isn't it?  How do I stand back and say This isn't me.  This is God working through me.  As always, let us seek our answer in Scripture.


Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.
-1 Peter 3:15

I think that verse tells us an awful lot. We should always act above reproach.  I don't think we need to say after everything we do "Glory to God AMEN!"

No, I think it matter more how we act then what we say.

However, when anyone asks us questions like "Why are you doing this?" or "How did you get to be so good at this?" We shouldn't be selfish and say it's all us.

Yet wee need to be meek about it to, not like some rap singer thanking Jesus for their grammy.

Ultimately your legacy is like files saved on a flash drive.  Remembered for a while, but eventually forgotten.

Do things for Christ, not to leave a legacy.  You'll find more joy that way.