As we thought about the irony and the appropriateness of the whole situation, a deeper spiritual reality dawned on us. My brothers and I are the recipients of multi-generational faith. We were given a great path to faith because of the dynamic faith of those men and women who preceded us — including our Grandfather Gordon who was a Shepherd of God's people. We also were extremely blessed to be involved in very active youth groups in which our parents were highly involved — they would be called huddle leaders in a church like Westover. In other words, we have a vibrant faith because our parents had a vibrant faith and made sure the churches we attended had youth groups with vibrant faith.
All of us, as flawed human parents, will pass on some of our own messes to our children and grandchildren. In a way, they will spend part of their lives cleaning up their father's (and yes, their mother's) messes. It's not a debatable issue; it is just the reality that we all live with as parents and grandparents. This reality is one of the reasons that the characteristics in our children that bother us most are the weaknesses they picked up from us. As much as this principle sometimes saddens us as parents, it is also the hint of a greater blessing.
Not only do we have the opportunity to limit the number of messes and the severity of those messes, we also have the power to leave our children and grandchildren a legacy of faith, a passion for the Kingdom of God, and a love for the Savior. In a fallen world, the legacy of faith is much harder to pass on than the messes of life. That's why Joshua directly challenged Israel to choose leaving a legacy of faith when he said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." A Kingdom legacy is intentionally shared through prayer, sacrifice, teaching, example, opportunity, challenge, discipleship, love, and witness on our part. The glory is that God can take such a legacy and imprint His character on 3 or 4 generations of children and the influence of one godly generation can be multiplied countless times over the course of these generations.
So as we approach a time of year when we think about the gifts we want to give our family — especially those gifts we want to give our children and grandchildren — let's make a commitment to pass on the greatest gift of all; a vibrant legacy of faith. We know that our children will spend some of their time cleaning up some of our messes, but let's also commit that they also pick up our faith, hope, love, and Lord. This Christmas, let's commit to give the gift of a legacy of faith!
