Day 2: Gone

When I’m gone

When I fade away

Is the air I breathe my only legacy?

When I’m gone

As a rock band, we often think about what kind of legacy we will leave behind. Was it worth all the blood, sweat and tears, all the nights on the road away from our families? We know our songs likely will outlive us, so we pour a lot of ourselves into them, but at some point, we know everything fades away. 

The notion of “legacy” is something we all wrestle with. Does anything we do here on earth really mean anything in the long run? When we are dead and gone, did any of it matter? 

The Teacher in Ecclesiastes wrestles with this same troubling thought. In Ecclesiastes 2:16 (NIV), he observes, “For the wise man, like the fool will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!” The cruelty of this truth is that, not only do the things we do in this life eventually fade to nothing, the same fate falls on both the good and bad.

We spend so much time, energy, and emotion trying to get the next best thing, the next best toy, the next best house, etc. But the fulfillment we think we will find from gaining these things is an illusion. Matthew 6:20-21 (NIV) says, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Do we want to leave this earth only having gained short-term physical things? Do we want to pass away having taken the relationships in our lives for granted, not spending time giving back, not making the world better, and not leaving a legacy of love?

In Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV), Jesus says, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” We’ve been given the mission, by Jesus Himself, to spend our lives loving the Lord and loving others. If that were the only legacy we leave, we will have fulfilled the greatest mission ever given.