Christians are to be legacy-minded. They are to be
long-term strategists who do not view themselves, their family, churches, or
occupations as something within a void and without context. The context is
Christ’s victory and dominion. The family’s primary role, within the context of
society, is to glorify God and to create progeny. This progeny is to make
long-term impact for good. To fail in this command by God (Deut. 6) is
to invite generational pain and suffering (Deut
28:15-68). The Scripture warns current generations to avoid sinning against
their offspring by refusing to bring them up in the fear and admonition of The
Lord. This means that when previous generations refuse to honor God, they leave
their own children in a dangerous position. What our parents do during our
formative years will in part shape cultures for good or evil. In fact, the
culture will in large degree be a litmus test for how well the previous
generation raised their children.
No right-minded Christian would deny that this is
God’s modus operandi as it pertains to how we should raise our children. Many
of us are living in the blessings that a loved one left us in the form of
monetary funds, help with our business, trust funds, an old family home, or
possessions. That’s only counting the material blessing passed down, not the
spiritual or emotional blessing of being raised in a Christ-centered home or
even just a nuclear family. The opposite is also true: we can be greatly impacted
by the failures of our parents. Instead of hugs, some receive blows. Instead of
encouragement, discouragement. Instead of hot food, an empty stomach. Instead
of godly legacy, generational infamy. Instead of the fear of God, folly.
Instead of gain, loss.
The seeds we plant in our children will grow into
fruit. They will grow beyond that and impact everything beyond our children as
well. Feeding hungry children keeps the grocer open and employs people.
Righteousness leads to sustainability and further blessings beyond merely
surviving. Prosperity is our goal as it pertains to economic philosophy. We are
hardwired to bring God’s dominion to the earth. That could be in the form of
your backyard garden, or of homeschooling your children. Everything we do will
reflect the dominion mandate that is hardwired into our souls since Creation.
The material, spiritual and emotional yearning for those blessings are also
hardwired into us. Don’t believe me? Just ask the three siblings who had to
cooperate in order to sell the family home after their mother passed away. We
want blessings.
What is true of families is true of nations as well.
All nations are either starting from square one (third world countries) or they
are building upon what previous generations have left to their care. Our
current world didn’t drop out of Heaven like an end times Jerusalem. Providence
instead has delivered us into these cultures. Things were done prior to us
being here that either benefits us or hinders us. Our job is to find those
hindrances and systems of evil and eradicate them while simultaneously building
new, better ways of living and cooperating. This includes not merely living for
ourselves during this dominion process, but actively building avenues
(charities, hospitals, schools) that benefit our less fortunate neighbors.
Christians aren’t called merely to stop the things that unjustly oppress
themselves, but to attack any and all forms of injustice upon anyone on earth (James 1:27;
Deut 14:29;
Psalm 34:14;
82:3).
If we take Scripture into account, there are only two
forms of inheritance. Generational righteousness (Prov. 3:1-4;
2
Tim. 3:14-15; 2 Tim. 1:5). To these we must cling. The other alternative
is generational sins (Exodus 34:6-7; Deut. 5:8-10).
In multiple other areas, specifically in the Psalms, we see the call to remind
our children constantly of that from which God has delivered us. The children
are in turn commanded to take hold of that deposit, or dire consequences will
follow. In fact, the families that refuse to obey the Lord risk their own sins
being visited upon and practiced by their own children. Yet even those children
can repent and turn to the Lord before it is too late (Leviticus
26:40-42; Exodus 34:6-7).
To conclude, we must not merely teach our children the
milk of the word, but we must press on into the meat of biblical precepts (Heb. 5:12; 1 Cor.
3:2-3). We must help them build a comprehensive and biblical worldview by
which they discern the world around them. If not, we leave them to be devoured
by wolves in both the world and the church alike. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 3,
Paul warns about building upon the biblical foundation with anything that
cannot stand being tried by fire.
The Corinthian church was dominated by worldly
philosophy that had no foundation in Christ. When we Christians educate our
children, we must not leave them to build upon the bare ground. They also
inherit our foundation, which is Christ. Therefore our children, when
well-discipled by their parents, should at the earliest teenage years be much
more mature than we were at their age. In fact, they should not be surprised if
they start teaching us things and challenging us. After all, their foundation
will be our foundation. We are raising them to surpass us and in turn to teach
our grandchildren to surpass them—always building on Christ.
Are you leaving your children such a legacy? Are you
teaching your children about biblical economics, work ethic, government,
education, authority, compassion, justice, tyranny, money, modesty, obedience
and health? The only alternative is to leave every generation that follows in
constant, cyclical infancy. You can either leave a castle that has been built
up for two centuries or you can present them with an empty lot without even a
slab of concrete.