I’m told that it’s not a good thing to die “intestate” (without a will). “A last will and testament” is a legal document that lets you decide what happens with your estate after you die. When you die without a will, you leave important decisions up to a local judge and the state’s laws. That will decide who receives your property and assets.But when I die, I want to make sure my family is taken care of. You might think that would be automatic. But I am aware that inheritances can be… difficult. You frequently hear of family fights over the inheritance. One comedian stated: “You know what they say, where there’s a will… there’s a family fighting over it.”The Bible does not gloss over families that had inheritance fights. There’s Jacob, who cheated his brother Esau out of his inheritance. In the book of Judges we read about Jephthah, whose half-brothers ran him off so they wouldn’t have to share their father’s inheritance with him. And then there was David’s son Absalom who decided to speed things up a little by killing his dad off and taking the throne and his inheritance by force.And Jesus told a story about a son that didn’t even want to wait until dad had died to demand his inheritance. This man had two sons and the younger want to get his share of the inheritance and leave home to do whatever he wanted (Luke 15). So the father divided the inheritance between the two sons.Stories like these tend to make you wonder about the value of an inheritance. But then we must remember that we leave more that money and possessions to our children and grandchildren. In the story that Jesus told, the father left far more.The younger son finally realized that his dad was a good man; he was merciful, he treated others well.So what is the most important items we leave our children? Far more than money—an example of a righteous life, a life that honored God—a Godly life. You can’t give your child anything more valuable than that. This isn’t just a matter of setting a good example, the true inheritance is about WHO you live for.In Exodus 20 God gave commands as to how people are to live. But in verse 6, He gives a promise that He would show would show “steadfast love to thousands of those who ...
