What comes to your mind when you hear the word inheritance? Many of us probably think of money or property, things that are tangible and of value. For others it may expose deep feelings of loss because some one loved has passed from this life. My uncle “graduated”, that is what he would call it, a short time ago. I shared a birthdate with him. He had 8 children and so have I. He was politically incorrect and so am I. His passing focused my thinking again on issues of inheritance. I say issues (plural) because inheritance is so much more than deep feelings of loss or tangible asset we may acquire. The most important parts of inheritance aren’t always noticed right away, or at the least aren’t connected with inheritance. Before I explain more of this important part of inheritance, let me tell you some of our journey. Without going into all the little details, let me just say that for most of our married life, my wife and I have lived on the edge of the financial cliff. Christmas time was especially hard for me. It hurt to be unable to get items for my wife and children that they needed or even just wanted. To be honest, many times it depressed me. What was worse, it seemed like the Bible was saying that it is bad when a man doesn’t supply his family. It forced me to ponder about what was really important. What was it that we as a couple were passing on to our children? Several times I started a letter to my children to explain what I was thinking, but never quite finished it. But God is good and always good. He has used those times to expose what is really important and also the issues that blocked what was important. And this led to healing and growth in those areas. It is so amazing that God won’t let us stay stuck if we are willing to listen to Him.
What are these parts of inheritance not usually noticed and why are they important? The first is genetic. Eye color, hair color, skin color, facial features, body build, etc are certainly noticeable. But what is not, is spiritual genetics. It is found in Ex. 20: 5. We inherit the junk as well as the good from our ancestors. Perhaps you have noticed how abuse, drug or alcohol addictions, or other specific problems seem to follow family lines. Why is that? I worked in social work for a time and saw this in the records. The other feature of inheritance that we need to think about is what I will call soul inheritance. It comes through families again but by what is taught. This teaching can be either verbal or non-verbal. It can be either helpful or hurtful. These are the parts of inheritance that are extremely important because they will shape and color the grid through which we see life and act/react to it everyday. The good news is that God is able to bring healing where there are hurts and restore our vision to what He intended.
The third part of inheritance, even less noticed or understood, is the issue of what you do with what you inherited. To help us think through this aspect, we need to understand something about God. He created the family. A man and a woman, a team, a partnership that would be able to create life and by the way they lived bring life and health to everything around them. In bringing honor to our parents we take the good we inherit and build on it to be a positive influence to those around us. Our children in turn will take what we pass on and build upon it. We have a choice to live for ourselves or live for God.