Your Legacy

I have a fear that in this world of transient lifestyles that my children won't know the legacy of where they come from, who not only there Grandparents were but also there Grandparents even a couple of generations back.  Have you ever thought of the legacy you are leaving for your children and generations to come?

There are good and bad legacies mentioned in scripture, one little mentioned one is in Obadiah.  Obadiah is a minor prophet.  The book consists of 21 verses and it brings God's thunder in these verses.  These are those verses.
 ¹ The vision of Obadiah.

   This is what the Sovereign LORD says about Edom—

   We have heard a message from the LORD:
   An envoy was sent to the nations to say,
“Rise, let us go against her for battle”—

 ² “See, I will make you small among the nations;
   you will be utterly despised.
³ The pride of your heart has deceived you,
   you who live in the clefts of the rocks^[a]
   and make your home on the heights,
you who say to yourself,
   ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’
⁴ Though you soar like the eagle
   and make your nest among the stars,
   from there I will bring you down,”
            declares the LORD.
⁵ “If thieves came to you,
   if robbers in the night—
oh, what a disaster awaits you!—
   would they not steal only as much as they wanted?
If grape pickers came to you,
   would they not leave a few grapes?
⁶ But how Esau will be ransacked,
   his hidden treasures pillaged!
⁷ All your allies will force you to the border;
   your friends will deceive and overpower you;
those who eat your bread will set a trap for you,^[b]
   but you will not detect it.

 ⁸ “In that day,” declares the LORD,
   “will I not destroy the wise men of Edom,
   those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
⁹ Your warriors, Teman, will be terrified,
   and everyone in Esau’s mountains
   will be cut down in the slaughter.
¹⁰ Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,
   you will be covered with shame;
   you will be destroyed forever.
¹¹ On the day you stood aloof
   while strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
   and cast lots for Jerusalem,
   you were like one of them.
¹² You should not gloat over your brother
   in the day of his misfortune,
nor rejoice over the people of Judah
   in the day of their destruction,
nor boast so much
   in the day of their trouble.
¹³ You should not march through the gates of my people
   in the day of their disaster,
nor gloat over them in their calamity
   in the day of their disaster,
nor seize their wealth
   in the day of their disaster.
¹⁴ You should not wait at the crossroads
   to cut down their fugitives,
nor hand over their survivors
   in the day of their trouble.

 ¹⁵ “The day of the LORD is near
   for all nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you;
   your deeds will return upon your own head.
¹⁶ Just as you drank on my holy hill,
   so all the nations will drink continually;
they will drink and drink
   and be as if they had never been.
¹⁷ But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;
   it will be holy,
   and Jacob will possess his inheritance.
¹⁸ Jacob will be a fire
   and Joseph a flame;
Esau will be stubble,
   and they will set him on fire and destroy him.
There will be no survivors
   from Esau.”
            The LORD has spoken.

 ¹⁹ People from the Negev will occupy
   the mountains of Esau,
and people from the foothills will possess
   the land of the Philistines.
They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,
   and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
²⁰ This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan
   will possess the land as far as Zarephath;
the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
   will possess the towns of the Negev.
²¹ Deliverers will go up on^[c] Mount Zion
   to govern the mountains of Esau.
   And the kingdom will be the LORD’s.

You see this vision of Obadiah's was that of the destruction of the nation of Edom.  Edom is the legacy of Esau.  These people were a thorn in the flesh of God's chosen people.  Do you remember the story of Jacob and Esau?  How Esau sold his birthright because he was starving.  He sold his spiritual heritage to satisfy his fleshly desires.  This legacy continues on throughout time.  The Edomites took pride in their homes in the cliffs.  This made them quite safe and impenetrable.  The Edomites wouldn't let Moses and the Israelites cross through on their way to the promise land. Numbers 20: 14-21 "¹⁴ Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying:   “This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come on us. ¹⁵ Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors, ¹⁶ but when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt.  “Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷ Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”  ¹⁸ But Edom answered:  “You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”  ¹⁹ The Israelites replied:   “We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”  ²⁰ Again they answered: “You may not pass through.”  Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. ²¹ Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them."
This legacy of hatred and bitterness against Israel went on for years.  You see Esau left a legacy that eventually destroyed the nation that was his legacy.  The last one in the line of Esau was Herod, the Idumeaen (the Edomite). 
Verse 15 says that the family of Esau will be judged during the Day of the Lord which refers to the Great Tribulation period, this as per Dr McGee all nations including the ancient one will be back and judged during this time.  Dr MacArthur says this destruction of Edom is a preview of what is to come for nations that refuse to bow to God's Sovereignty.  The fact is this Edom was captured first by Babylon then the Maccabees and finally the Romans in AD70 never to be heard from again.
So, you may be asking what in the world does this have to do with my eating habits?  We in this country eat more junk than any other country with the amount of abundance we have.  I have had to sacrifice to feed my children healthy choices.  It is not an easy feat but I had to sit back and ask myself, what legacy do I want for my children, as per their eating habits.  Do I want them to struggle with type 2 diabetes or heart disease because folks that is what is going to happen.  We need to teach our children from the day of their salvation that we are the indwelling temple of God and we need to treat it as such.  Stop harping on the big stuff like drugs, alcohol, and smoking while forgetting to talk to them about the "small" stuff like eating the healthy choices God has given us.  THEY ARE ALL IMPORTANT TO THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.  Please do not misunderstand me I'm not saying we can never bake a cake ever again but thy one from scratch next time that doesn't have a bunch of preservatives and make a smaller dessert that becomes a special thing once a week.  If you already have a "legacy" of bad health in your family then it is imperative that you make changes to your diet now.
Sugar (especially refined or high fructose), food coloring, refined flour feed the bad things with in our system that eventually weakens our bodies.  These weaknesses can lead to things like heart disease, weight gain, type II diabetes, and cancer.
Psalm 127 ¹ Unless the LORD builds the house,
   the builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
   the guards stand watch in vain.
² In vain you rise early
   and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
   for he grants sleep to^[a] those he loves.
 ³ Children are a heritage from the LORD,
   offspring a reward from him.
⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
   are children born in one’s youth.
⁵ Blessed is the man
   whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
   when they contend with their opponents in court.
This Psalm talks of God's sovereignty and we need to be aware that we CANNOT prevent everything bad, health wise  by eating very healthy.  However, we are commanded to be good stewards of what God had given us, Luke 16:10 ¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."
Our children are given to us by God to care for and train.  This means to take care of their spiritual and physical needs.  Make sure your legacy will go on after you leave this earth; that the healthy changes you make now as you start 2012 will translate into spiritual changes that will bring an eternal legacy.