Leave A Legacy Of Faith

 Just across the street from my office lies the Spring Creek cemetery. Grave markers litter the landscape reminding onlookers of the brevity and finality of life. Each marker has the name, the date of birth and dates of death. 

The tales that could be told from the graves. Many who faithfully served and worshipped at Spring Creek Baptist Church. the testimonies of God encounters. Those who trusted Jesus as their Savior and are now alive in His presence forevermore. 

There are other tales. Tales of those who spurned the love of God, rejected His offer of salvation, turned from Him to do their own thing. Today they suffer in agony forever. 

Both sets of people left a legacy. Some a legacy of faith. You can trace them and their ancestors. As far back as you can see, the legacy of faith keeps passing from one generation to the next. Testimonies abound of amazing grace. Tales of God's faithfulness endure. The legacy of faith is cherished. May it never be broken from one generation to the next. 

On the other hand, lost people leave a legacy of destruction, devastation, and despair. Generational curses keep kin folk enslaved in sin. One generation after another trudges through life in bondage. They are headed for hell and lead their loved ones to that same eternal damnation. It breaks my heart. 

I have preached many a funeral for lost people. There is no hope. Christians grieve but as those who still have hope of seeing loved ones again in Heaven. Lost people have no such hope. They are ushered into an abyss of misery, agony, torment, unending, unyielding, dark, filled with the weeping and gnashing of teeth from its residents. 

The Bible tells the story about a rich man who went to hell. He was able to see into Heaven a poor man he had once known. He pleaded for that poor man to be sent to his family members to warn them about hell. He wanted God to send the poor man back to life from Heaven to be a missionary to his family. God told the rich man they had preachers, but they refused to listen to them. 

What person suffering in hell, that really loved their family, would want anyone to follow their legacy into eternal destruction? If the dead could speak, they would preach greater gospel messages than I ever could with greater urgency. Hell is real. Eternity is long. Salvation is offered through Jesus alone by grace alone and faith alone. Trust Him now.

I urge you to leave a legacy of faith for your family members. Long after you are gone, may they still tell the stories of what God did in your life, how you were saved and how you led other family members to that same faith in Jesus Christ. May the name of Jesus be made famous in your family from one generation to another leaving perpetual legacies of faith.