Posts Tagged ‘Noah’

The Legacy We Leave

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

I enjoyed holding my three-year-old granddaughter Anna during yesterday morning’s church service. During the praise and worship songs, I balanced her on my hip and moved with the music. She’s a born dancer, so she loved every minute. She grinned at me and I grinned back, especially when she mimicked me as I raised one hand heavenward.

At one point, the worship leader led a familiar old hymn:

“I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene

And wonder how He could love me

A sinner condemned, unclean.

How marvelous, how wonderful

And my song shall ever be.

How marvelous, how wonderful

Is my Savior’s love for me.”

The lyrics moved me to tears as I thought about my unworthiness and Jesus’ deep love for me. I brushed those tears from my cheeks, aware of Anna’s curious stare. “What’s wrong, Grandma?” she asked. “Why are you crying?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” I answered. “These are happy tears. I’m happy because Jesus loves me so much. And He loves you, too.”

“Yeah,” Anna said. Her eyes sparkled. “Jesus loves me. That makes me happy!”

I want to remember yesterday’s scene forever. It intensifies my desire to leave a godly legacy for my grandchildren. It renews my resolve to walk in fellowship with God and to let Him have full control over my life with the hope that my descendants will do the same.  

Genesis 5:22,23 further strengthens that resolve. It tells the story of Enoch, a man who walked in close fellowship with God. He left a legacy that paid off several generations later. Guess who his great-grandson was? Noah—the man who found favor with God when the entire population around him was headed the opposite direction spiritually. Scriptures says that he, too, walked in close fellowship with God. He was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at that time (Genesis 6:8,9). I have no doubt that great-grandpa Enoch’s legacy played a role in Noah’s spiritual well-being.

I want to play a role in my descendants’ spiritual well-being, too. I want to leave a legacy that points them toward God. This happens as I walk in close fellowship with the Lord day by day, moment by moment, just as Enoch did.

How about you? Who played a role in your spiritual well-being? Whose legacy made a difference in your life?

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Doing versus Being

Monday, January 4th, 2010

As a task-oriented person, I’m tempted to start the New Year by writing a long list of goals I’d like to accomplish in 2010. It would start with basic stuff like….

  • Lose another 10 pounds.
  • Keep my office tidier by filing papers immediately rather than letting them pile up.
  • Figure out how to connect Facebook with Twitter.
  • Learn to use my new iPod.
  • Read one book per week.
  • Spend less on groceries.

 It would graduate to tougher things such as…

  • Develop a half dozen new speaking topics.
  • Begin teaching “Weekend to Remember” marriage conferences with Gene.
  • Reevaluate my schedule to make time for researching and writing another book.
  • Be intentional about developing a friendship with one particular lady in my townhouse complex.

I find that writing goals is a good exercise for me. It forces me to think about what I hope to achieve, and helps me determine concrete steps necessary to get the job done. Yet, because I’m so task-driven, it’s easy for me to get hung up on doing, doing, doing. In my eagerness to accomplish much, I sometimes neglect to simply “be.” As a career missionary, I find it a constant struggle not to let my work consume me, but rather, to focus on my relationship with Jesus and let ministry flow from that.

I bought myself a new copy of The One Year Bible (after four years of being marked up and underlined, the old copy needed to be replaced) and have started reading from the beginning again. Wouldn’t you know it? Early in Genesis, I find a reminder to keep the right perspective on doing versus being.

Tucked into a long list of who begat who, we find these words: “Enoch lived in close fellowship with God for another 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters. Enoch lived 365 years, walking in close fellowship with God” (Genesis 5:22-24). Skip to Genesis 6:8-9 and read these words: “Noah found favor with the Lord…Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.”

These passages don’t elaborate about what Enoch and Noah did with their time, the goals they set, and the things they accomplished (Noah’s ark story comes later), but they do tell us what God deemed important.

These guys knew how to “be.” They knew how to be followers of God, how to be in right relationship with Him, how to be blameless before Him. That’s what I want to be, too.

How about you? Do you feel the same tension as I do between doing and being? What are your thoughts?

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