God encourages leaders to fix their eyes on what endures. In light of eternity, leaders should not act hedonistically or short-term. Chasing after wealth and power is in vain. Only a vision that is bigger than the leader herself, one tied to eternity, will lastingly fulfill a leader who walks with God.
In other words, this means that a leader works for a legacy. What will remain of what the leader has built? Psalm 49 reminds us that no one can take anything with them into the grave, no matter how rich or powerful the person has been. So what should be left behind that truly counts?
There is a big difference between what one inherits and what one leaves as a legacy. Anyone can leave an inheritance — something for their family or the people they love. But a legacy is something that is left not for the family or those people, but in them. That is something completely different.
| Inheritance | Legacy |
|---|---|
| something tangible you give to others | something tangible you leave in others |
| brings temporary joy | brings permanent transformation |
| may diminish over time as it is used | lives on after the leader dies |
| the success of the activities is not guaranteed | the activities will produce success |
Psalm 49:12-20
12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.
13 This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.
14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.
16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.
19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.