Echo

The Christian world was impacted by the death of Dr. Myles Munro and his wife in an aircraft accident a few months ago. He was a great man of God who ministered to the global body of Christ. I watched a visual clip of a message he shared shortly before his death. In this message he refers to a person’s legacy, and the importance of what you leave behind when you die. He emphasises the importance of mentoring people to follow in your footsteps and to take over and continue with some of the things you established in your lifetime. He spoke of his children who’ve already taken over the management of his ministry and business ventures. It struck me once more that my life may be a vapour in the large scope of eternity, but it matters greatly to my Creator. He purposed for my life to impact my generation, as well as those to come, for His Kingdom. The choices I make in this life, and the things I plough my time and energy into, will cause a ‘sound’ that echoes into the next generation, and possibly even eternity!

An echo is what happens when sound bounces off a surface as it moves. By bouncing back the sound plays itself again, (sometimes more than once)! An echo is more likely to happen when the sound has a lot of surfaces to bounce off of, which is why caves and alleyways are usually so full of echoes. The sound that’s being echoed will be a repetition of the original sound - a sound reflection. So in order for your life to echo clearly you need to find as many people as possible to love, encourage and bounce God’s true character off.
If so many sound reflections arrive at a listener that they’re unable to distinguish between them, the proper term is reverberation. When our lives are sounding different and contradictory messages, it causes spiritual reverberation. The people we’re hoping to impact for Jesus can be left confused and disillusioned regarding God, because our example has been a false echo. As little children copy (or echo!) the behaviour of their parents, our lives need to be an example which will propel others further in their walk with God, and inspire them to want to know the God we serve. We may be the only person they encounter on their life journey who’s able to accurately echo the voice and character of God.

I’m challenged to send out a clear sound – to let my love and life for God echo for generations to come and into eternity! How about you?

Prayer: Lord, the desire of my heart is to live a life that will glorify and echo Your love and character. Please help me to obey Your promptings to speak, love and embrace those You bring across my way, in Jesus’ name. Amen.