Legacy is what you put in motion. Let’s look at what this means in this excerpt from our upcoming book, “A Legacy Life Devotional.”

Legacy Is What You Put in Motion

“He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.” 2 Kings 22:2

We struggle with the definition of legacy. The phrase most often used is that legacy is what you leave behind.

There are many unfortunate associations with the idea of “what you leave behind.” In some cases, legacy is tied to the idea of wills, trusts, and estate planning. No one typically gets too excited about meeting with a lawyer! Worse still, I remember talking to a man who said rather flippantly, “After I die, it’s all up to them to figure it out.”

But the idea that legacy is “what you leave behind” is tied to a worldview that this world matters the most.

That’s not a biblical worldview.

We are citizens in heaven. We live for that future day when we stand in heaven, when we’ll see our loved ones and the lives we touched and be in relationship with the eternal God forever and ever.

Instead of saying legacy is what you leave behind, we can say:
Legacy is what we put in motion.

We live for that future day in heaven. We don’t live for these temporary few days that we walk upon this earth.

In the Scriptures. King David lived an adventurous life—from shepherd boy to king’s attendant, to warrior, to rebel refugee, to king, to outcast, to king again. But even with such a great life, David was described first and foremost as a man of integrity and a man after God’s own heart. Accordingly, God made an astounding promise to David: “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever’” (2 Sam. 7:16).

Let me put it differently. We see David, particularly in the psalms, pour out his heart before God. He knew God as refuge, warrior, defender, and friend. Because David lived such a life set on God, in pursuit of God, yearning for God—not perfectly by any means—he set in motion a legacy of righteousness.

The last good king in Judah is Josiah, who comes eighteen generations after David. It’s a span of roughly three hundred years from David to Josiah. It is a remarkable thing three hundred years later to say that Josiah “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.”

Can you imagine someone saying that about your life? That three hundred years from now someone will still be saying, “Wow, he was just
like his great-great-great-great-great . . . grandfather David!” And, of course, we hope that the testimony is one of honor, integrity, and righteousness. O Lord, help me to set in motion a legacy of righteousness for generations to come.

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If you enjoyed this excerpt, keep reading about how you can help launch “The Legacy Life” this fall.

The Legacy Life

You are the hero of your family’s legacy story, and you need a guide to help you write that story.

Now it’s here in two formats:

The Legacy Life and The Legacy Life Devotional are available for preorder now!

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Bill High

Bill is CEO & Founder of Vyne Legacy. He works with families to equip them with tools to build multigenerational legacies, and he teaches givers and financial advisers on transformational biblical generosity. He is the co-author with David Green of Giving It All Away and Getting It All Back Again: The Way of Living Generously.

Published September 10, 2025

Topics: Family Legacy