Leaving an Inheritance or a Legacy?
The Lord said to Elijah, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint…Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.
I Kings 19:15-16
As the Baby Boomer generation (of which I am a card-carrying member) moves into the autumn of their lives, their assets will slowly but surely be passed on through wills and trusts.
This is no small thing. I recently read that at least $16 trillion of wealth will be transferred to the next generation over the next 30 years, marking the largest wealth transfer in history.
Millions of individuals will receive a significant inheritance. But I couldn’t help but wonder how many will receive a significant legacy.
There’s a big difference. As one author put it, “An inheritance is what you leave for someone. A legacy is what you leave in someone.”
An inheritance is what you leave for someone. A legacy is what you leave in someone.
Legacy isn’t measured by what you accomplish during your life span. Legacy is measured by the lives that are affected by your life long after the inheritance is gone.
And, in many cases, that legacy perpetuates itself in the generations that follow.
Elijah’s Legacy
Take the case of Elijah. Many biblical scholars consider him to be the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. One evidence of that is that it was Elijah who, along with Moses, appeared and spoke to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Elijah certainly lived a remarkable life. One of the greatest miracles in the Bible is Elijah’s dramatic victory over the 400 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. This could well be seen as the high point of his prophetic career.
Yet perhaps there’s another candidate for that honor – one that you might not have ever considered.
Shortly after the events on Carmel, God tells Elijah to anoint a successor. The Lord said to Elijah, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there anoint… Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. (I Kings 19:15-16)
For six years Elijah poured himself into Elisha. One can only imagine the immensity of the example he set and the insight of the instruction he gave.
After those years of investment, Elijah went the way of all flesh and passed from the scene. (Although his exit was pretty dramatic!)
Elisha was left looking up into the sky with nothing to mark the moment except for his predecessor’s mantle or cloak. Now, as he picked it up and put it on his shoulders, he not only wore Elijah’s garment, he assumed Elijah’s ministry.
And assume it he did!
You may not have realized it, but the true measure of Elijah’s success wasn’t the fourteen miracles he performed. It was the twenty-eight miracles Elisha performed.
Using that metric, Elisha’s life accomplished even more than Elijah’s did. Why? How? Because Elijah didn’t simply pass on an inheritance (the mantle), he passed on a legacy (his example).
Who’s Your Elisha?
So, here’s the question? Whom are you anointing? In whom are you investing? Who’s your Elisha?
Your kids? Your grandkids? They as well as so many others in the next generations are so in need of an Elijah. What would it take for you to be one?
It’s been said that no one lives forever. But that’s only partly true. Hugh Robert Orr offers this poetic word: “They are not dead who live in lives they leave behind. In those whom they have blessed, they live a life again.”
So, go ahead and leave an inheritance, but, more important, leave a legacy.
“They are not dead who live in lives they leave behind. In those whom they have blessed, they live a life again.”
– Hugh Robert Orr
PRAYER
Lord, my life is going by so fast. All too soon, my race will have been run. Before I hit the finish line, help me to pass on the baton of faith and faithfulness to the next runners.
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