Legacy

Read 2 Kings 15, 2 Chronicles 26:16-21
 
2 Chronicles 26:16b-18 Uzziah sinned against the Lord his God by entering the sanctuary of the Lord’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar. 17 Azariah the high priest went in after him with eighty other priests of the Lord, all brave men. 18 They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is the work of the priests alone, the descendants of Aaron who are set apart for this work. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have sinned. The Lord God will not honor you for this!”
 
DO you notice the scripture describes the 80 priests who went into the sanctuary to stop Uzziah as all brave men? And see the direct language against the king: Get out of the sanctuary, for you have sinned. The priests were brave and direct because they knew what the LORD had done to Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu. God’s Story has told how God judged Aaron’s two sons with a consuming fire when they incorrectly burned incense in the LORD’s Tabernacle (Leviticus 10:1) Sudden death could have come from heaven on all of those present as Uzziah flagrantly burned incense in the Temple. The law said this was the priests’ work. Uzziah put the priests in jeopardy of judgment in his prideful disobedience. God did not kill the king, but he sentenced Uzziah to leprosy. This was as a living death. The king lost his freedom to move about during his final years as Judah’s king. And his son Jotham became a co-regent to represent his father to Judah.
   2 Kings 15 also records the list of Israel’s prideful kings rejecting God’s influence and law on their lives. How tragic is this legacy one man after another desiring power to the extent he is willing to kill for the throne. And do you often notice this phrase: he refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit. Each king of Israel continued the idol worship of two golden calves Jeroboam had begun as the Northern Kingdom’s first king. The ongoing conflicts from one king to another was certainly a dark fruit of this idol worship. Jeroboam kept his people from Jerusalem, and he left a legacy of king after king doing the same.
   Scripture continually illustrates the power of legacy – your mark on the future. What Adam did affects us all. Abraham’s response to God formed his nation. David’s devotion influences us today through his psalms. The prophets’ messages ring true for us because they spoke God’s eternal just Word. The apostles’ obedience to Jesus’ commands is the means we have come to know the Savior. What we do matters for longer than one day. We can act now to be a difference for the lives that follow us.
   If things need to be better in your family, then start today to learn how this will happen. Then be a godly leader to begin the changes in your life, so you can move them into the future.
   There is no one on earth who has not been influenced by someone who has gone before them. For the bad or for the good, your life makes a difference. Let’s be mindful to leave God’s mark on our future generations.