By Staff
We hear much of "leaving a legacy," and in many cases, individuals seek to produce a good legacy out of poor destiny.
Destiny is how you choose to live your life. Legacy is the appraisal others have of your destiny.
We could think of destiny as the inevitable, but it is intentional – a setting apart with purpose. What we destine becomes our destiny and produces legacy.
There is a great example of legacy produced through destiny in the Old Testament Bible book of Jeremiah, chapter 35.
The example is a parenthesis in the account of impending judgment on the nation of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians. Judah had disobeyed God and God was destroying them as a nation and giving them over to captivity.
The voice of God during this dreadful time was Jeremiah the prophet. Jeremiah kept speaking the Word of the Lord to the people. God told Jeremiah to gather a certain family of people, the Rechabites, and bring them into the house of the Lord and set wine before them (Jeremiah 35:2).
This seems strange in that it appears God was instructing somebody to do what was ordinarily not best, but God had a purpose.
Jeremiah brought the Rechabites in, set the wine before them, and told them to, "Drink wine" (Jeremiah 35:4-5). They refused to drink the wine (Jeremiah 35:6). God knew the Rechabites and was using them as an example to the people of Judah as to what integrity and destiny is all about.
The patriarch of the Rechabites was Jonadab. He instructed his children, who instructed their children, who instructed their children: "You shall drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever. You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor have any of these; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners" (Jeremiah 35:6-7).
These descendants recited well the original commandment of Jonadab and testified of their compliance (Jeremiah 35:8-10).
There was nothing particularly holy or righteous about Jonadab's directive.
It would always be a good idea to refrain from wine, but there was nothing wrong with settling down on a farm, except Jonadab destined his family for something different. The very remarkable thing about all this is that the children bought into it wholeheartedly.
Jonadab established a destiny which resulted in a legacy. The point God was making through Jeremiah was not the commandment of Jonadab, but rather the obedience of his children.
Destiny has a powerful effect. Jonadab made decisions about his own life, which became convictions. These convictions led to a lifestyle. As his children grew up, their destiny was patterned after the lifestyle of their father.
We often see people who are destined for certain things. That destiny was established by the decisions of someone who lived before them. Families typically follow in the footsteps of ancestors because there were strong convictions about how to live and what to do.
We build a legacy by establishing a certain lifestyle which becomes destiny for our children. We can be as successful as Jonadab if we are as intentional as he was. Cultural influence and other external circumstances will not change a destiny properly instilled.
The legacy of Jonadab's family was announced by God in Jeremiah 35:19: "Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever." Jonadab established a destiny for his family which became his legacy.
The only thing standing between us and leaving a good legacy is our lack of developing a destiny for those for whom we are responsible.