DO YOU HAVE A LEGACY TO STAND
ON?
By Pastor Rick Sams
How would you like the title "The Queen Of Mean"? She
was a real-life Grinch and Scrooge rolled into one. Her nickname is the
legacy billionaire hotel operator, Leona Helmsley, left us when she died this
past August. "Queen of Mean stems justifiably from the tight-fisted,
mean-spirited way she dealt with everyone, from her maids to her own
grandchildren, evicting them from their own home after her son
died.
Compare her with Alfred Nobel, who disdained his nickname "The
Merchant of Death from having invented dynamite. He dumped that
nickname by diverting his great fortune to funding the annual peace prize in his
name.
Do you have a LEGacy to stand on? What is it? It is
built each day for good or bad. The way we Acquire money, our Actions with
it, and our Attitudes toward it significantly shape this legacy.
Jesus
said a LOT about money. 16 of His 38 parables dealt with this topic.
The Bible�s 2000+ verses dealing with money (compared with 500 on faith and
prayer) show it�s important to God.
Jesus was always comparing and
contrasting to teach us. He compared the rich man who didn�t even offer
Jesus the common courtesies of the day to the sinful woman who anointed Jesus
with perfume costing a year�s wages (Luke 7:36-50; Matthew 26:13).
He
did it again with the woman who gave all she had while the rich were giving what
they would never miss (Luke 21:1-3: Mark 12:41).
These women could give
sacrificially because they realized NOTHING BELONGS TO US. God is the
owner. It�s all on loan to us "for temporary use only. Can you see
that invisibly written on everything around you, including your kids and your
body?
Jesus constantly warns us not to fear or worry, usually about money
(Luke 12:4-34). The original word for "worry here is the word from
which we get "meteor. The idea was the worrier is "flighty, up in the air,
unstable, fizzles out quickly. Compare Leona Helmsley with Francis
Havergal. Havergal was also fairly wealthy. One day while singing
the hymn "Take My Life And Let It Be she found herself feeling conviction
about the fourth verse: "Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would I
withhold. She went home, prayed, then packed up all her jewelry and gave
it to her church for missions. All this happened four years after SHE
wrote that song. Life lessons take time to sink in. Legacies take
time to build.
Consider your legacy this Christmas. Would you
consider buying a gift for someone who really needs it?
World Relief�s
"Catalogue of Hope offers ways you can buy much needed vaccinations, wells
or school supplies for the poor in developing nations. Request it @
1-800-535-LIFE. Project Angel Tree (1-800-55-ANGEL) allows you to buy
gifts for children whose parents are in jail.
One half of the world�s
population lives on less than $2 a day. Does that describe the justice God
requires of us (Micah 6:8)?