Leaving a Spiritual Legacy
2 Timothy 2:1-2 “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”
What kind of spiritual legacy are we leaving which will impact generations long after we are gone? Paul taught Timothy who was encouraged to teach others who would then teach others. This represents four generations of transmission of the gospel. How are we teaching and equipping in such a way that the gospel is carried on from generation to generation (not just literally in our family but from one person to the next to the next)? We need to consider not just how many people we impact but how we are equipping others to teach and share so they can impact others. This involves more than “giving a man a fish” but to “teach him how to fish” so he can teach another to fish, who will teach another so we make the biggest impact for Christ. This involves not just teaching but teaching how to teach. Consider this, if I were to disciple two persons every year for thirty years I would reach sixty people. But if I discipled only one per year instructing them how to disciple one person per year, and so on and so on, after thirty years we would all have discipled literally tens of thousands of people. The point is that we don’t consider the impact of our investment in people, we expect one person to be the teacher while we are the students but this isn’t God’s design or math. We are all disciple makers. When we invest in others expecting they will in turn invest in others, we make a huge impact for God’s kingdom. We leave a spiritual legacy.