By Dynamis Ministries | August 5, 2021
Many of us will leave an inheritance to our loved ones when we pass away. We might spend a significant amount of time and money planning our estate and making sure there is a plan for who gets what? This is an important part of our legacy, and yet sadly, it’s easy to neglect more meaningful questions: 1) what example do I want to pass on to my loved ones, 2) what values do I want to leave behind and 3) what character traits do I want people to receive from me? These questions are really centered on how we want to be remembered.
This is a legacy of identity. This legacy goes beyond the distribution of our money and possessions and even the resume of our accomplishments. It is the being quality of our person and who we were in relationship to others. Our legacy of identity will be passed on to our loved ones in more lasting ways than our stuff, and it goes beyond a family inheritance to impact our friends, colleagues and neighbors as well.
When was the last time you paused and reflected on your desired identity and how it’s going in living into it? If you feel led, take a few minutes right now to write out the ways that you want to be remembered. Consider giving yourself a pass/fail or a scale of 10 rating on how well or poorly you are expressing those qualities. If it’s not obvious, ask yourself these questions:
- What would your spouse or children say about your vibe lately?
- What would your coworkers speak about your character?
- What does your bank statement say about your priorities?
- What is the impression you’re giving off to strangers in passing?
Celebrate where your identity is in alignment with your actions and be willing to be convicted where there is a disconnect. This is a self-examination exercise much like the prayer of confession. Consider taking one step further and confessing to God where you’re missing the mark. After you pray, speak Psalm 103:8-12 over yourself from God’s Word as an assurance from God that you are forgiven. Praise the Lord for this gift!
While we live in a world that prioritizes living for yourself in the moment, it would serve us well if we spent more time like this, being aware of our future legacy of identity. This will help guide us in our present living. We have the power to choose in this very moment the kind of people we want to be and how we want to be remembered beyond our lives. The way we treat people each day will eventually make up the legacy of identity we leave behind. Choose this day to create the legacy by which you want to be remembered.
