For those who care about influence for the gospel, life is divided into two parts. Our own influence through our life and work and in the second half of life, our intentional mentoring of the next generation of influencers who will carry the baton to the next generation. It is Paul and Timothy and 2 Timothy 2:2.
A wonderful example is John R W Stott whose world wide influence in my parents generation is tough to beat. Yet for many years prior to his death his primary focus was that of raising up the next generation of Christian leaders. He intentionally multiplied himself by giving himself away and focused less on his personal impact on society and more on the impact that the next generation would make. In doing so his legacy and influence live on in a powerful way.
This requires a Kingdom heart that is focused not on one's own accolades but on empowering others who will will multiply one's Kingdom influence. It is about the Kingdom, not us. It is about leaving a living legacy in the lives we have influenced who will carry on our work when we are gone. I suspect that there will be many behind the scenes who will receive greater rewards in heaven than many big names whose focus was on their own ministry and legacy rather than on leaving a living legacy through others.
This applies to wives who mentor the next generation of wives, husbands who mentor and raise up the next generation of Godly husbands, Christian leaders who invest themselves in the next generation of leaders ... anyone who is investing their lives in passing the baton to others who may actually have far more influence than we ever did.
For Christian leaders, I am convinced that their success is best measured not by what happened while they were in leadership but by what happens when they are gone! Was there stewardship of the ministry about them or the ministry? If the latter they invested significant time and effort into the lives of the next generation of leaders. If the former, they often did not.
If you are post fifty, who are you investing in? Who are you raising up to take your place behind you? That investment may well be your greatest influence and legacy as you multiply yourself in the lives of others. It is a quiet, behind the scenes work that will seldom be seen but its impact can be profound. It is in giving ourselves away that we have our greatest impact.
2 comments:
I am one who's been reading your blog from SLC these last few months - to provide context, I sang on worship team today. :^) I purposely have not commented before because I just wanted to hear the team's recommendations before expressing any opinions. But I want to tell you that I have been very impacted by your thoughts and am looking forward to continuing to read and continuing to be challenged. And I want to thank you for all you have done - and will continue to do - to help SLC. I, for one, am grateful! :^)
I think this question of "who are you investing in?" is one for all of us, not just those in the second half. There is certainly a deep level of influence a wiser, more experienced person can have on another- and I have benefited from that. However, I have also benefited significantly from people willing to invest themselves in me before they have crested that hill.
If we who have not yet reached that mark are really about the Kingdom, I think we, too, have no choice but to push ourselves to live lives of discipleship and influence today, like Timothy. I agree with challenging people to live lives of second half influence, but I can't help but hope for whole life influence.
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