“Your legacy to my chosen will be your name reduced to a cussword.”—Isaiah 65:14 (Message)
Today, I read that Bob Guccione died on yesterday.
Yeah, quite honestly, because I’m not big on reading mastheads, especially in porn magazines, until today, I had no idea who he was. Who was he? The founder of “Penthouse”.
It reminded me of a X3Church blog that I penned while back about a friend of mine who was stabbed to death, so horrifically, that his demise was featured in the LA Times. When I went to his MySpace page to check out what people were saying, all I saw were pics of porn stars. That. Was. It.
I knew Michael well enough to know that he was more than some obnoxious dude who picked a fight one night with the one person. Or some guy that, seemingly, spent all of his time getting his rocks off looking at naked girls on the Internet. When I first met him, he was a very handsome, sweet and gentle person. Life, and it’s many strongholds got the best of him.
When I read about Bob Guccione and how, for almost 35 years (1969-2003), he was the publisher of “Penthouse”, similar thoughts ran through my mind. Surely, there was more to the man than a business tycoon who set out to rival Mr. Hefner (“Playboy” publisher). Surely, he had a family. Surely, he had other hobbies and interests. Surely…that wasn’t all there was to him.
And yet, when I read the story on People.com today, all I saw was that he was he was a smut peddler, er, publisher. And to be honest, it made me kind of sad.
Because aren’t we all more than what we do? And in the world of discipleship, what we struggle with? I would hate to die and only be known as “the girl who slept with 14 guys, had four abortions and talked about sex all of the time”. Indeed, that is *a part of who I am*. Yet, not the totality. Not by a long shot.
To be honest with you, that’s sometimes what motivates me to not go back to my old self. Hmph. Grandma used to say, “Always wear clean panties. You never know when you’ll get into a car accident.” My conscience often says, “Wear a clean character. You never know when it will be time for someone to pen your eulogy.”
The confirmation of all this came when I looked up “legacy” in Scripture this morning. It’s kinda gangsta (LOL) that there would be a verse like the one in Isaiah, ain’t it? That some of us could have a legacy that God’s chosen would reduce to being of no more value than a cuss word. Wow.
And then I thought again about Mr. Guccione and what that cuss word, in his case, might possibly be. Right. Oh, how we all deserve so much more than that. To be remembered beyond a liner or two in People’s Magazine re: what we did for a living, rather than actually LIVING.
Christ came to give us all an abundant life (John 10:10). A life that would provide us with a proud legacy. The next time you think about opening a page or clicking a link, it’s definitely something to think about.
Be known for who you are. A child of God.
Not for what you do. Especially when, as a chosen one, you know doesn’t leave the best legacy…behind. To read, write or talk about.