“I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter
dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told
us. We will not hide them from our children, telling to the generation to come
the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has
done” (Psalm 78:2-4).
Ever since David first became king, he had one
burning desire—to build a temple for the Lord that would bring glory to His
name. But because David had been a man of war, that privilege could not be his.
And yet, God didn’t bypass him altogether. “The Lord, through his angel, instructed
David, and gave him a pattern of the house which Solomon should build for Him.
An angel was commissioned to stand by David while he was writing out, for the
benefit of Solomon, the important directions in regard to the arrangement of
the house” (The Spirit of Prophecy, volume 1, pg. 387).
But David did more than that, for his heart was totally in God’s work. He
emptied his treasuries to give an abundant offering for the Lord’s
temple—100,000 talents of gold, one million talents of silver, and iron beyond
measure. Over the years, he collected other materials, such as timber and stone—all
that could be used for the temple. And in the final years of his reign, David
passed all this wealth and all the plans he’d received to Solomon who would
build the “courts of the house of the
Lord, of all the chambers all around, of the treasuries of the house of God,
and of the treasuries for the dedicated things” (1 Chronicles 28:12).
David left a precious legacy for Solomon to follow.
But even beyond all this, he desired his son to remember the One whom he would
build it for. “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and
serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all
hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will
be found by you” (1 Chronicles 28:9).
If there was one thing you would want to pass to
your children, what would it be? While you might want to bless them in many
ways, don’t you want for them the same thing that David did? To see your
children pick up the torch you have laid down? To serve the Lord faithfully
with all their heart?
This kind of legacy isn’t something you can wrap up
in a package and hand over to them like a birthday present. It’s something
that’s built right now. What our children see in us today is our precious
legacy to them. The faith they see in us will make the greatest impact in their
lives when they see us living what we believe. When they see a faith that
works, one that makes a real difference in our life, they may choose that faith
for their own.
But a Christlike example will be much more powerful
when we couple it with the words of God. I can’t imagine living for Christ and
not sharing Him with our children. Love for Jesus always overflows in words and
actions, never one without the other. And I can think of no better place for
our love to flow than in our own homes. If we are parents, this is our first
and most important mission field. God has given us these precious children to
raise for Him. They belong first to Jesus. But He’s given us the precious
privilege of leading them to Christ and teaching them to grow as He did, “in
wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52 ).
As parents, it’s easy to get sidetracked from our
ultimate mission. But if we want to give our children a spiritual legacy, if we
want to pass on a faith that never quits, we need to share faith every single
day. We need to bring our children to the Savior’s feet and open the Bible as a
family. The church or the church school can help us in our mission, but we are
the primary disciple-makers of our sons and daughters. It is our responsibility
to bring them up in the “training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
Family worship is such a wonderful way to plant
God’s love in your children’s heart and help them follow Jesus. As you read the
stories of David or of Peter and Paul, you’re building a legacy of faith that
will stay with them the rest of their lives. They won’t easily forget those
precious stories. And when they need God the most, He will bring those words
back to their minds. They will be like an anchor that holds them close to Jesus
and keeps them on the right track.
As I look at my daughters today, I see them passing
on the same legacy that my husband and I passed onto them. Every day they sit
down with their families, reading the Bible stories they once learned at home.
And their little ones are growing in faith. They know they can talk to Jesus
anytime and He will hear them. They know that Jesus is a forever Friend, who is
always there to help them. They see a picture of Christ in their Mommy and
Daddy’s lives as they model how to be happy Christians, serving the Lord with
all their hearts.
I may not have much money to pass onto my
children, but when I see them worshiping
the Lord as a family and faithfully teaching their little ones about Jesus, I
know I have given a legacy that will bear fruit for the kingdom
of God
I pray as we all walk with Jesus in the Living
Way
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