A Priceless Inheritance

Several years ago, an old friend from church lost his father, Don, to cancer. Don had been well-loved at our church through decades of selfless service, genuine kindness, and obvious love for Jesus that compelled him to love others in tangible ways. I had personally been a recipient of his love and kindness during my years in youth group where Don had volunteered as a leader. As I read with great sadness the announcement post of his death on Facebook, one particular comment my old friend made about his dad gripped my heart in a profound way and has stayed with me for years.

He said, “When I was a young kid, I spent years believing that my dad didn’t sleep—that he stayed up in the chair of our living room reading his Bible every single night, because it was always the last thing I saw before I went to bed and the first thing I saw every morning.”

What an inheritance to leave your children.

We will all leave our children with pieces of our lives that, over time, define who we are. They will be the things remembered of our character, they will punctuate the stories told of us in our absence, and they will shape the way we are described to those who didn’t know us.

They will also have an enormous impact on who our children become under our care.

Do we want them to know of our utter dependence on God?

Do we want them to see the value we place on the relationship that matters more than any other?

Do we want them to see our faith grow and our behavior transformed by the work of the gospel in our hearts?

Then let them find us reading the Word. Let them see us praying. Let them see our great need for a Savior.

Let them find us, every day, in the chairs of our living rooms—with hearts and Bibles open.

Let’s leave them an inheritance of eternal value.