Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Shortly after our daughter’s engagement, she and I spent an afternoon setting up her bridal registry in a local department store. Roaming the floor making her selections, she shared in passing that, considering their ages—she was 38 and her fiance was 45—they had decided not to have children. Once again the “still small voice” whispered, “Children are a spiritual inheritance.” For years it was my habit to wake up to the radio program, “Focus on the Family.” The previous morning I awakened to hear a message about how children, and the precepts from Almighty God that we pass down to them, are part of our spiritual inheritance. Our devotion and faithfulness to God is an inheritance we give our children that blesses them by:
• how they see us live with God and worship Him
• how they see us obey and love Him
• how they see us respond to hardship
• how they see us approach our work
• how they see us manage money and make decisions
My response to my daughter was, “My hope is that you will prayerfully reconsider as both of you have such a wealth of spiritual understanding, wisdom, and knowledge to pass down to the next generation as an inheritance for your children.” It must have struck a cord as ultimately they did reconsider having children—twice! Both children are now Christ-followers and are reaping the blessings of that inheritance.
Often when we think of an inheritance we assume it means a financial gift or something tangible that we hope to leave after we are gone. Certainly, we all have meaningful items we’d like to pass down to our children and grandchildren that hold treasured memories, even eternal value. In today’s verse, Jesus reminds us that it is better to store up treasures in heaven for the kingdom to come. The truths of God’s Word and His wondrous works, these are the things we are commanded to pass down to the next generation, more than any other type of inheritance. These things will last forever from this world to the next. It’s never too soon or too late to begin investing in and storing up those treasures for the next generation!
Our Father, thank You for the truth in Your Word that teaches us about the treasures we need to share with our children and grandchildren. Your command in Psalm 78 is clear and may it be our prayer to You today: “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done. For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments…” We pray in Your name and for Your sake, Amen.
