Unveiling Spiritual Heritage: Pursuing Eternal Impact

“The echoes of those who came before span the chasm between here and heaven calling to something bigger.” Emily Bybee

This quote above came to my mind as I contemplated my Bible study lesson for the week. In Bible study, we’re discussing pursuing your purpose and the calling that God has placed on your life. One thought from this lesson stuck out to me: eternal life does not begin after we pass from this life into the next, but rather it begins the moment we accept Jesus into our lives and begin walking with Him. From that moment on we are building an eternal life.

Echoes From The Past.

One example from my life is my dad’s grandpa and his aunt Florence. Neither have I known in my life, yet their influence has touched me so profoundly that I feel like I know them.

My grandfather was a man who knew Jesus and influenced my father for Christ long before he became a Christian. He planted the seeds in my dad’s life that would later grow to be a flourishing faith that he would pass down to me.

My Great Aunt Florence was also a woman of faith and while I do not know her story one thing I know is that she was a woman who lived her life from the Word of God.  A few years back my father shared with me a bible that was passed down from my great aunt Florence. It was an old Bible with notes in the margins and fraying pages. It was the physical proof of the quote from Charles Spurgeon “ A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.”

The sight of that Bible never left me. Though it would be years from that day that I would truly and completely commit myself to God that was the beginning of a nagging thought that would never leave me. I wanted devotion, passion, and purpose that, like my great-grandpa and great-aunt, would be evident generations after I was gone. 

Contemplation

I urge all of you to examine your life and ask yourself: 

• What are you leaving behind for those who will follow you? 
• What kind of eternal value are you adding to the lives of those who surround you?
• What can you do here on earth that will further God’s kingdom?
• Who are the people in your past that have helped you? 
• How can you continue what they helped start in you?