Genesis 48:15-16
15 Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, 16 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm —may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth."
15 Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, 16 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm —may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth."
We were blessed to have our daughter Melinda came visit with us for this Thanksgiving Holiday. As parents, we are naturally proud of her and all the things she is accomplishing in the Lord. She is truly wise beyond her years but most importantly, God plays the primary role in her life. I heard her giving testimony to her friends, she reads her bible everyday, and we discussed life from a biblical prospective.
I began thinking about my legacy and what I would leave to my children when I am finally called home. The legacy we can leave our children can take on two distinct forms: spiritual and material. When we often talk about a legacy it is often based on material things: money, cars, homes, and investments. Most insurance commercials urge us to take out their policies, if for nothing else but to pay for our final expenses, but I am not talking about material things because these things shall come. (Matthew 6:33 Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.) I want to leave my children with a spiritual blessing! I want to leave them a spiritual legacy!
It is through the spiritual and material blessings and lessons that we have the power to leave a gift; through living by example, and teaching our children to pray, fast, worship, and love God at an early age, the bible says in Proverbs 22:6 that we should “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Thoughtful words and careful articulation of our values and desires reinforces our actions of what our children observe and emulate in us. This is a gift we can give that we can start giving now.
From today’s text we see that Jacob (Israel) blessed his Grandsons. He essentially adopted them. He did not want them to out do their father in a material since; but he wanted them to succeed in the inheritance of God’s promise made to Abraham. Thus, this old man, blind and dying, teaches his young Grandsons to take their inheritance up with the people of God. He appoints each of them to be the head of a tribe, a double honor! It is not easy to teach our children to break through the temptations of worldly wealth and preferment and to embrace faith. We must live our lives to give authority and significance to our dying exhortations, whereby we extend our legacy full of spiritual consolation. It is better to live low in faith and in the church, than to live high out of it. What legacy are you leaving your family? AMEN
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