My father, after the failure of his business, was no longer a wealthy man so he could not leave any wealth or properties to his four children. Nevertheless, I am grateful that he could afford to give us the best education at university. His desire was for us to have a better life than he. Now that I am a parent, my husband and I desire to give my daughter the best possible education, not only academically but also spiritually. Our desire is for our daughter to live in the fear of the Lord so that all the gifts she has from Him will be used for His glory.
As the primary disciple-makers, the Lord has given parents the privilege and responsibility to intentionally engage their children with God’s Word daily. Deuteronomy 6:5-9 tells us, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
It is not wrong for us to provide an education or pass on assets to our children, so long as we have the means to do so. One thing for us to pass on though, that is immeasurably more important than any of these and that has eternal value is character education in God. God wants His people to think about what they pass on to their children. He wants us to use every opportunity to impress His commandments on our children. We must teach them to our children repeatedly, through our thoughts, words, and deeds. Our children will not forget God’s commandments and will consistently obey them if we impress on them God’s commandments at every opportunity (v. 7).
Worldly wealth that children inherit can be lost in an instance through theft, natural disaster, squandering, etc. On the contrary, the spiritual legacy we leave our children will not be lost. Are we impressing on our children daily, God’s commandments?
Worldly inheritance is temporal but spiritual inheritance is eternal