After You No Longer Need It, Will There Be Any Left?
The classic arguments I’m seeing around the Internet today are about whether the Baby Boomer generation will have anything left from their lives in terms of inheritance to pass down, or whether they will have spent it all on themselves, but there was a time that thinking just about your children would have been considered short sighted.
The Industrial Revolution changed the mindset of generations. If you go back to the time of the American Revolution and could see how people lived, you’d see people that were deep into knowing how to do things, and whose families stayed together and benefitted each other. They would have grown a lot of their own food, and only needed money for some additional items they couldn’t provide.
These men and women were creating legacies and land to provide for more than a job for themselves, but something they could pass down through the generations.
Which lines up with today’s thoughts from Proverbs…
A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren,
Proverbs 13:22
but the sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.
We see here that a good man is not just interested in how himself or his children are going, but is looking toward and providing for his grandchildren. While one could see how the children could be upset, the reality is that the children, had they been taught and lived correctly and provided for by their grandparents, the grandchildren are where the greatest potential investment can be made (for they will outlast the grandparents further!) and the greatest impact on legacy will be made.
I’m not saying everyone should go update their will to skip a generation. I’m saying that when you’re looking at who you are impacting and what you should be focused on, don’t keep your sights short– broaden them to go beyond. Create those family businesses that can be passed down or that can provide interest for years to come. Think more like someone that wants to have their work and worth live long past them, instead of thinking short terms.
Make your life’s work and worth count both spiritually and physically by investing time and talent in moving the generations for Christ forward!
