The Bible refers to the family unit hundreds of times. God values the family unit. Every model of righteousness and love must first be built and demonstrated at home in the family before it can be taken out into the world. Genesis 18:19 – … “The he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promises him.”
Malachi 4:6 – And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter distributions.
Acts 3:25 – You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your offspring’s shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
We are all sons and heirs. The job of the family is to build the biblical model in the home and then expand it out into the world. Values and wealth first built in the family can have an impact throughout each community and into the world.
I get this question brought up a lot with clients. “Why do I want to pass on everything I’ve worked for to someone who didn’t earn it?” Clients aren’t the first people to have asked that same question. In fact, the King in Ecclesiastes has the same thought. This King is a person who has had it all, done it all, experimented with it all… fame, fortune, sin, righteousness, work… all of it. He questions: Ecclesiastes 2:18 – I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This is also vanity and a great evil.
Why do we work hard just to give it to someone who did not earn it? They might squander it. Well, that answer comes in John. John 5:17 – … My father is working until now, and I am working. John 5:19 – … Truly, truly I say to you, the son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing. For whatever the father does, that the son does likewise.
Why do we leave our wealth to the next generation? How do we know they won’t squander it? The answer is…. we are setting an example. We are training our sons. Parents are to instruct their kids and show them the way. A son sees his father working and they learn from that. “My father is working, so I am working.” Single-generation living is not biblical. A father is showing his son how to live, giving him a plan and a vision. Gods vision.
When you are gone, the value in what is left is the character and skills that have been developed and passed on. It is the values and the beliefs. That is true wealth.
Wealth is more than just money. Money is a tool, but wealth is holistically everything good a man has. The values and beliefs. The way you live your life. Happiness. Family. Legacy.
