The Best Inheritance Any Parent Can Leave Is Godly Character Series

It has been said that children are a great comfort in your old age, and they also help you reach it faster! Wise parenting and grand parenting is when each generation passes the baton of Biblical values on to the next generation. It is my strong desire and hope that I will not drop the baton in my leg of life’s race. Biblical parenting is the tried and true method of investing in your family tree. A note here; this is why I am a firm believer in the importance of the local church. It is the only place, outside of the family, where you can get consistent moral training from the nursery to the grave. Sons and daughters will not get it in a public School, and they aren’t likely to get all they need even in Christian school. The work force certainly won’t do it (99.9% of businesses are not about teaching morals, but about the bottom line). So then, if our children or grandchildren are going to get the additional support they need, families need to be active in a good Bible-believing church. When my children get to be adults, it’s not what they know about math that’s going to save their marriage, but rather what they know about God!

Parenting is a call of duty that extends from the time we get married and have our first child, all the way until the day we meet God. Parenting is a responsibility that never goes away. We parent until the time we pass away. The form of parenting changes but the force does not. Grand parenting is a wonderful blessing. The Bible speaks favorably of a number of grandparents that had tremendous influence on their posterity. Think, for example, of Jacob, the grandfather of Ephraim and Manasseh, when he placed his hands of blessing on them and cast a future for these young men. Or consider the long reaching influence of Eunice, Timothy’s godly grandmother.

At first glance, Proverbs 13:22 might make us think that we’re going to talk about financial inheritances. Wouldn’t it be exciting to get a phone call from a lawyer and hear that your rich uncle died and left you a million dollars! When I was in my early twenties I bought a “huge” share in a real-estate mutual fund group (I think it was one 1 share at $26). I totally forgot about it for over fourty years. When I was cleaning out some files one day I discovered the real-estate trust certificate from all those years ago. I thought to myself upon seeing this little piece of paper, “I am going to be rich!” Sugarplums were surely dancing in my mind! When I finally located the man in charge he laughed and told me that the fund was now defunct…Oh well! We’re talking about a Biblical inheritance which is much more valuable and will never go belly up. A godly inheritance is the greatest inheritance of all!

There Are Three Parts to A Godly Inheritance:

1. It is Leaving a Lasting Legacy

Proverbs 13:22 states that a good man (or woman) “leaveth.” He leaves a legacy for his children’s children. We all know that our children are affected by who we are. Your character also touches grandchildren. How thrilling to see the positive domino effect of good living. As a child, dominos that were set on edge to form a little “snake” fascinated me. All that had to be pushed was the first one, and an amazing series of events began to take place. How awesome (and also daunting) it is to my soul, to know that my life is the second domino in what I think will be a long line of godly heritage. How incredibly blessed it makes me feel that should the Lord tarry, I am going to touch my family tree by God’s grace for hundreds of years.

Consider the incredible Biblical story of the Rechabites as recorded in Jeremiah 35. Jonadab, the beginning “domino” in the family tree, had made the following commitment, “we (both personally and as a family) will never drink alcohol and will live a nomadic life style. We will trust God for His provision and leading.” This family of faithful people kept up this incredible legacy generation after generation for more then fifteen centuries! As a result, God gave the descendants multiplied favor after favor.

What an incredible comfort to know that some of the godly principles we are instilling today, might be able to touch lives for multiplied generations. It’s a terrible thing to invest in something, only to see it evaporate. However, nothing could be a more guaranteed return on our investment of time and effort, than to pray for and to touch the life of a young person for Christ. May I say by the same token, absolutely nothing grieves me and cuts me to my soul and nothing keeps me any more dedicated to be true to the principles of God, than to know that my poor example could damage a precious little life. I can tell you there have been numerous times when, to my shame, I would want to involve myself in a certain vice, but by God’s grace I have gotten the victory because I see a little son or daughter’s face in my mind’s eye and think to myself, “What will become of them?” I know that my life has a ripple effect, and those pebbles that are thrown in the pond might be small, but have a long-range effect.