Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Are We Leaving Our Mark?

ECCLESIASTES 1:4 – A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.

THEME OF THE DAY. ARE WE LEAVING OUR MARK? It really does go fast. Just pause for a moment and think about how quickly life whizzes by us. Oh, there are times we may not think so. When going through seasons of suffering or trial, it feels like life is at a standstill, or at best going at a snail’s pace. But in the big scheme of things, what the Bible says is true; we are only on this earth for a moment and that like a quickly vanishing vapor or fast dissolving morning dew. The Apostle James tells us like it is – Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes (James 4:14). But not only is life short but let the wisest man ever to live also tell us what life really is. King Solomon writes, “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Now before we start calling Solomon “a killjoy” or someone who never enjoys the good things of life, remember he gave himself over to all the pleasures this world offers, then he said, “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.” And the King is right, if we find ourselves wasting our lives on the things of this world with rarely a regard for the eternal things of the next world. Not only is such living vain but downright foolish. Yet we witness every day the foolishness of people who are living only for this world, and to add a further dimension to this foolishness is Christians living such a foolish life. Maybe even the person we greet in the mirror each morning.

So, let’s combine the above-mentioned declarations by James and Solomon along with the truth of today’s scripture and take an inventory on our lives.

First, from today’s scripture. The picture Solomon makes is the passing of one generation to another. We are people following people who, unless Jesus returns, will be followed by people. This should cause us to pause and consider these questions, “Are we leaving our mark for Christ in our generation?” and “Are we building a life of truth and Biblical spirituality in the next generation (our families) that will be embraced and passed down from them?” And remember, we are going to leave a mark on our generation. It will be a mark left to our families and friends in one of two directions. We will either be remembered as a Christ-centered, self-denying, praying and Word-based person who left a sweet legacy of the Lord Jesus in all our relationships. Or, we will be remembered as a good person who enjoyed life, worked hard, provided for our families, but left virtually no spiritual legacy to those dearest to us. And that leads to Solomon’s words of a vain life. To waste the only life we have on the passing things of this world and leave no spiritual mark on the next generation is the perfect definition of a “vain and foolish life” lived.

There is nothing more important in our lives than our walks with the Lord Jesus Christ. The place of importance that walk takes in our lives will determine the type of mark we leave on our generation. And remember the brevity of life. Such thinking will help make the only life we have count for eternity and not be wasted foolishly, in vain.

PRAYER: “Father, please help me to see the fleeting nature of my life and then invest it for eternity.”

QUOTE: “We will each leave a legacy after we have left this life. The question is ‘what kind?’”