By Victor Muto
“Now the Lord had said into Abram, Get you out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, unto a land that I will show you; And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing; And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed” Genesis 12:1-3 (KJV)
“…. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all your children? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he keeps the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and bring him: for we will not sit down till he comes here. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and of beautiful countenance, and handsome. And the Lord said, Arise, and anoint him: for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward….” 1 Samuel 16:11-13 (KJV)
“…. And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in into her, and said, Hail, you that are highly favoured, the Lord is with you: blessed are women…. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for you have found favour with God. And, behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest…” Luke 1:26-32 (KJV)
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he above three verses give a small illustration of three greatest men the world has ever seen. I want to talk about leaving a legacy that other people will follow. I’m basing on a saying that I have come to believe in, “Great men/women are defined by the legacy they leave behind”. I will be looking at great people in the modern world as well as in the Bible. The Bible talks of several great persons that lived; for instance, in my first verse am talking about Abraham, who was called by God and serve, to leave his family and the land of his father, and God made the father of a great nation, Israel. In the second illustration, David was a mere shepherd but God, through Prophet Samuel, anointed him to be king of a great nation, Israel. In the last verse, God sends His angel, Gabriel, to announce the forthcoming birth of Jesus, who is the leader of a great nation, Christianity.
All great men and women of the world have impacted the world in one way or another, either positive or negative. First, a great man/woman may either be good or evil, and this is because, they may have done something that greatly affected or influenced the world. Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein are some of the great men that are considered (and actually they are) to be evil due to the inhuman deeds they have done.
Negatively, as I’ve said, created some impact on the world, leaving some effects behind. In the world, such people have risen, and some of them almost bringing the world to its knees in fear. During the World War II, Adolf Hitler rose and waged one of the world’s biggest wars, threatening to take over the world. Unfortunately for him, he ended up committing suicide and that was the end of him. Osama rose in the 80s or 90s and waged a war against the West and its allies. He has attacked several countries, inclusive of Kenya, and brought the death of so many millions over the years. In brief, all ‘evil’ great men rise but later fall greatly.
Positively, so many great men and women have arisen and have left behind “ideologies” that have influenced the world greatly. They have either influenced the world in terms of business, peace or politics. Over the years, we’ve seen men and women inventing powerful tech-toys that are changing the way the people in the world communicate. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple invented the IPhone which has revolutionised communication around the world. Mark Zuckerberg came up with Facebook, which has taken the world by storm in the social networking, getting to connect people from all over the world. These two gentlemen have greatly influenced the world and thus, have a legacy behind them.
World peace has not been easy to come by and many have suffered or even died in search of world peace. Prof. Wangari Mathai was persecuted during President Moi’s era for advocating for the protection of the environment. Her achievement, she received a Nobel Peace Prize for environment. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, leader of the Tibetans, has undergone imminent suffering under the Chinese government, as a way of bringing peace to Tibet.
God has assigned every human being some talent and He expects us utilise that talent that His name may be praised. We are obligated to use our talents to help other people; to be a blessing to other people. Abraham was called by God so that he may be a source of blessing to other people. A person’s deeds ought to be the blessing of the next person. If by our deeds a person changes for the better, then we are great. A man/woman cannot live alone by him/herself; they need the other in order to co-exist and to survive. By so doing, it’s our mandate that we influence the other person to be better in life.
Leaving a legacy entails being a source of blessing to others. In order for people to follow your legacy, you ought to be a source of blessing to others. People need to tap blessings from us and by so, they emulate what we do that describes us as great resulting to them doing what we do.
Finally, journey of a thousand miles starts by a single step. Inspiring one person leads to that inspiring another and another. Jesus was born in the lineage of David and all David’s descendants have been considered great because David started by inspiring his son Solomon and Solomon did the same to his son, and the chain continues till Jesus. From Jesus, we follow a great legacy of love that keeps the world in revolution.
One thing you should keep in mind is that legends are not born but made.
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