“Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children.” 

Deuteronomy 6:5-7a, CSB

Recently I had the opportunity to vacation in the Boston, Massachusetts, USA area. While there I toured three ships: a replica of the 1620 Mayflower, the USS Constitution built in 1797, and the 1943 WWII destroyer USS Cassin Young. 

As you can imagine, there were quite a few differences between these three ships. In addition to being significantly different sizes, none of them used the same steering mechanism, building materials, or hull design. Technology and scientific application had most definitely changed. It was the similarities, though, that truly gripped me. 

More than three centuries separated the USS Cassin Young from the Mayflower. However, from one ship to the next certain aspects of maritime culture remained. While I’m sure the person who developed the steering stick used in the Mayflower was innovative, his creation would be replaced by the well known helm wheel by the time the USS Constitution was built. That wheel, which had no doubt been praised for it’s usefulness at its inception, was vastly different in appearance and location by the time the USS Cassin Young rolled through WWII.

Core Fundamentals

From ship to ship the details changed, but the design and purpose was still recognizable. Even in the simplicity of the Mayflower, there was a captain’s cabin and an officers’ dining room with close proximity to navigation and steering. The upper deck of the boat was physically divided to accommodate different purposes and people. The organization of the lower decks felt the same as did the positioning of the hatches moving between them. No matter how much the materials and technology changed, certain core fundamental ideas remained. 

What would happen if we as Christians considered core fundamental ideas to be the legacy we passed down instead of worship styles, cultural norms, and societal positions? Consider how poorly designed a modern day battleship would be if ship designers had insisted the captain’s quarters remain all the way in the stern instead of realizing that its position relative to steering and navigation was what was truly most important? Either the captain would be inconveniently far from the bridge or the brain of the ship would be vulnerably placed in a spot far better suited to a large gun. 

The history of the Church is riddled with disagreements over music usage, political views, and educational involvement. One doesn’t have to look far to see that all of those arguments are alive and well today. Many times the vehemence of those arguments stems from the idea that actions, rules, and appearances create the legacy we leave for future generations instead of understanding that it is far more important to teach future generations the values and principles driving those actions. 

Firmly Rooted

We’ve forgotten that, like the captain’s quarters is attached to the bridge of the ship, our interactions with others are to be firmly rooted in the love of Christ. It may shift and look different over time, but it should always be recognizable for what it is. 

Fortunately Christianity has the Bible, with it’s unchanging description of an unchanging God to help us do that. It can be hard, sometimes, to separate this legacy from tradition, to recognize which of our convictions are personal preference and which are divine commands. But the effort is worth it. Whether we like it or not, the laws we make, the programs we create, and the buildings we construct are not the legacy we will leave behind. What future generations will look for is did we, like the early church, care for orphans and widows through those programs? Did we use our buildings as open doors to invite people into a relationship with Christ? Or did our walls shut out those we disagree with? Did we care more about the outward appearance of people’s actions or the heart that motivates them? 

In 1 Samuel 16 God tells us that while man looks at the outward appearance, He looks at the heart. 

Make sure the legacy you are leaving is one of the heart. That is the only kind that will last. 

Meet Kristi Ann Hunter