People talk about “leaving a legacy” and I know for different people that means different things.  But oftentimes leaving a legacy is about when we die, having a list of accomplishments we can be proud of.

Yet here I am reading Joshua 23 where he is giving his farwell address.  He’s about to go “the way of all the earth (Jos 23:24) and in it he talks about the things that the Lord did with them in their lifetime moreso than the things he did.

“You have seen for yourselves everything the LORD your God did” (Jos 23:3)

“It was the LORD your God who was fighting for you (Jos 23:3)

“The LORD has driven out great and powerful nations before you” (Jos 23:9)

“every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come about” (Jos 23:15)

Joshua lived a life of faith in such a way at the end he could boast about the Lord’s working before all the time.  It’s the only thing that matters from one generation to the next.

If you were to boast to your children or to your friends or family at the end of your life about the LORD, what would you boast about in Him?  Do they know well the stories of God’s faithfulness to you?

For Israel all the events happened corporately.  For us it’s not much of the workings of God corporately so much as they are individually.  But are we telling or writing down the stories of God’s faithfulness in our lives to pass on to the next generation?  Do they know of God’s faithfulness in our lives?

Do the people around me know that I had impossible situations financially in March and April and that the Lord provided and paid for all my bills?  Or that he helped another financial situation and paid off my car before I was about ready to get dinged with high interest?  Or that I laughingly and causally asked for a specific piece of clothing and received it this week out of the blue?  These are just some of the things the Lord has done in the last few months.

And what about the major things?  As there has been major things.  And yet, even I have forgotten them.

I think at the end of our lives it’s important that we have testified not to our accomplishments, but to what the Lord has done.  How He has walked with us and cared for us all the days of our lives.