By: Corey BonassoNew Heights Church is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this summer, which is yet another reason to give praise to God! I have been blessed to be a part of this church family for 6 of those years, during which we went from a pre-school in Milton to an elementary school in Milton back to a preschool in Milton to an elementary school in Teays Valley to a building in Teays Valley and finally back to a building in Milton (and soon to be another building in Milton). Through all of those many steps along the way, I have seen God working through New Heights at each one. In my time at New Heights, I’ve met some wonderful people, met some definite weirdos, and made some of my best friends that I now consider family (mostly the weirdos, of whom I am the foremost).
After reading Pastor Will’s blog post on Gospel Legacy and listening to these sermons from some of the New Heights OGs, I’ve spent time reflecting on the idea of legacy. The word legacy actually means “something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.” Generally, when we think of a legacy, we think of something intangible – something non-physical – something deeper. Another word for someone’s legacy might be the “legend” they leave behind. However, I think the best way to accurately describe my idea of legacy is the impact something leaves on the world after its gone.
I sometimes hear discussions of legacy in politics, and how certain decisions can affect a President’s legacy. That makes sense because a President’s leadership could potentially have ripple effects that last for decades, and even generations. George Washington, the founding fathers, Franklin Roosevelt with the New Deal, and Harry Truman with the end of WWII are just a few examples. These men are remembered for the actions they took during their lives, for better or worse.
I also hear the idea of legacy discussed, more than any other place, in the world of sports. I am an avid basketball fan, and I thoroughly enjoy plenty of other sports, as well (not baseball…yawn). However, the idea of an athlete leaving behind a legacy is immensely stupid. A person, who happens to be freakishly athletic, plays a game so the rest of the population has an opportunity to be entertained. As part of that population, I’m grateful for the entertainment, but I also understand that a game is a game. If your legacy is being really good at a game, you’ve wasted your life unless you use your platform for something greater than a game.
As I thought about how many athletes chase success and try to build a legacy and how foolish and wasteful it is, my mind naturally wandered to the opposite end of the spectrum – so what kind of legacy should we pursue? What kind of impact do I want to leave on this world when I’m gone?
I mulled over the question, and many different ideas came to mind. I want to be a great father to my children. I want to be a great husband for my wife. I want to be remembered as someone who cared about others and left the world a better place than he found it. However, when I thought about those things, while noble and worthy goals, I realized they don’t mean anything in and of themselves. I’ll have a relationship with my children (Lord willing), and hopefully my grandchildren, and if I’m really lucky, my great grandchildren. After that, the generations will not remember the name “Corey Bonasso.” I’ll be some name in a family tree and some picture that my descendants look at of a guy who’s been dead longer than he was alive. They might know who I was or know my name, but they won’t know me. While that might sound grim and bleak, it is the nature of things since sin entered the world. I don’t know (or know the names of) my ancestors beyond 2 or 3 generations.
So if I want to leave a legacy, how do I make it last through the generations? After some thought I found the answer to that question – I don’t. Anything I do in this life that is an attempt to build my own legacy is doomed to fail and fade away because it is centered on me. A legacy that is built around a person will never be a true legacy because it will fade away, or worse, be rewritten by history. The only person who ever lived whose legacy truly lives on and is worthy to be remembered is Jesus Christ.
It is the hallmark of our sin nature to glorify ourselves over God. Ever wonder why smartphones are so popular? Because they allow me to capture a digital image of myself, enhance it to my liking, and send it out into the world for everyone to see – all of which can be done in seconds. Any time there’s an album of pictures anywhere, what’s the first thing I look for – “am I in this picture anywhere?” Selfies and stories and long, drawn-out social media posts with my unsolicited opinions all spring from this idea of self-promotion and self-glorification. These things are not bad in and of themselves. Social media and smartphones are wonderful tools that can significantly improve our lives. But, like any good thing that we receive from God, they can be distorted and twisted for evil purposes that do not glorify God.
At the root of the idea of legacy is the impact we want to leave on the world. What impact do I want to leave on the world? I want my legacy to be glorifying to God, not myself. The only way my legacy will last through the generations is if it is centered around the only one who is faithful throughout the generations. As Will mentioned in his blog post a few weeks ago, the legacy of a small group of faithful believers lives on through the generations. That is what I want for my own life and for New Heights. I want to teach my children the truth about Jesus Christ, and I want them to teach their children the truth about Jesus Christ, and I want that pattern to continue until the day Jesus Christ returns to rule forever in his kingdom.
I have always enjoyed reading the writings of Solomon. Many say he was the wisest man who ever lived, which may be true, but only because God chose to use him to give us God’s own wisdom. The book of Ecclesiastes begins like this:
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.
Ecclesiastes 1: 1-11.
Solomon had a good grasp on this idea thousands of years ago. “What does a man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” Everything we do in this life for ourselves is simple vanity, and any benefit from our toil fades more quickly than it came. If you take nothing else from my ramblings, remember this – “only the things we do for Christ echo in the halls of eternity.” The man who said this was the man who married my brother and his wife 16 years ago, and I still think about those words often. He had a proper understanding of what his purpose in this world was. God chose to take him away from this world last year as a young man in his 40s. If he had spent his life trying to build up himself instead of pouring out his life for Christ, he wouldn’t be enjoying Christ in Heaven right now.
I often think of Paul’s life, as well. If there was anyone throughout scripture who was singularly focused on advancing the message of Jesus, it was Paul. This man could not care less what happened to him in his life. Stoning? Sure, whatever. Beating? No problem. Imprisonment? Not a big deal. Shipwreck? Been there, done that. Snake bite? Didn’t even feel it. Nothing seemed to phase him or steer him off course. I would say we should emulate Paul, but I think Paul himself would say “absolutely not, I am the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).
In Acts, Paul elaborates on this point: “And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20: 23-24 (emphasis added).
Paul tells the elders at Ephesus that he does not even care about his own life. Friends, this is the legacy that I implore everyone to aim to leave behind. Let us be a church and a congregation that considers our own lives to be nothing other than opportunities to bring God’s glory into this world. Let us be a people who understand that once our purpose in bringing his glory is complete, we can join Christ in Heaven after an eagerly awaited reunion.
What do I want my legacy to be when I’m dead and gone? I don’t want anyone to remember the name “Corey Bonasso” (they won’t anyway). I want people to remember and glorify the name of Jesus Christ. I want my life to only be a reflection of God’s goodness and mercy to his people. I pray that in 100 years there are people in the world, potentially in my own family line, that know Jesus Christ and worship God because of decisions I made and actions I took while I was here on Earth. I want my life to be filled with decisions and actions that become the whispers that echo in the halls of eternity. If we want to leave a real legacy, we must build it around Jesus Christ.