I’ve been wanting to talk about something for awhile, its more like a soapbox type issue for me so I have been waiting until I can work it in on a Sunday morning...but that won’t happen for awhile so I am going to blog about it.
 
Sunday morning I was talking to a young man, by young man I mean over 18 but under 21, the type of guy who should have a job but doesn’t. He applies for jobs (online) but spends more time playing video games than actually looking for work or thinking of his legacy. He is like most young men today and I have told him this stuff before, so if he reads this blog it will not be a shock.
 
As we are talking he tells me about this new video game he is playing, a side mission of this game allows you to train your dog to poop on your neighbor’s lawn…he thinks this is funny. He also has the strategy guide for this game on his lap while he plays this video game, and it is probably the most interest he has shown in a book the entire time he was in school.
 
Now, please don’t think I am pointing at this young man as if to say, “look how terrible he is,” I point it out because it is something that our culture encourages…it is a matter of definitions. What I mean by that is today we are allowing ourselves to be defined by what we consume rather than the legacy God calls us to leave.
 
We are defined by:

• the car we drive,
• the job we have,
• the person (or amount of people) we date,
• the clothes we wear,
• the video game we play,
• the house we live in,

and a million other things.
 
It is why we can think it is funny to spend valuable time training a video game dog to poop on someone’s lawn in a fake world, all the while ignoring the legacy of grace, truth and mercy that should be on display in our life. It is why it can seem perfectly reasonable to someone to not have a job yet find enough money to get a new smartphone so they can talk to everyone online, because it defines them.
 
Deuteronomy 6:6-8 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise….V20“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes…you were to say V24 …for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. God always wanted His peoples focus to be a good legacy, but our focus today is ourselves and what we consume…and not our legacy.
 
Not only must our hearts change, but our lives must change as well. A legacy is what we need to leave, not just for our children, but also for our family, friends, neighbors, nation, and world.
 
Think bigger; think about what comes after you.

It doesn't end here....part 2 coming next week.