LEAVING A GODLY LEGACY

Better is a good name than good oil, and better is the day of one’s death than the day of one’s birth. Ecclesiastes 7:1

King David’s life was riddled with lies, adultery and murder. Yet, he is called “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). Does that mean his good deeds outweighed his bad deeds? No, not at all. Like all humans, David, too, was a sinner; prone to sin and struggling with that monster inside. But, as Titus 3:3-6 reads: “For we ourselves also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and affection of God our Savior appeared, 5 He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” So it was with David. The grace of God changed his heart by the Holy Spirit and enlightened him to write: “For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise (Psalm 51:16-17). David’s sensitive heart toward God, his repentance and reconciliation with God continued to enable him to be an instrument of God wherein God says, “he’s a man after My own heart.” Is that you? Do you have a heart in tune with God no matter what comes? That kind of life leaves a godly legacy and is a good name. 

Friend, I don’t know what you have experienced in your life. Maybe broken relationships, criminal acts, outright denial of God/Jesus like Peter, etc. I do know that Jesus saves. Jesus sanctifies. He can transform messed up lives into trophies of God’s grace and mercy.

Ike Graham