Leaving a Legacy, Part 5

Okay….the truth of the matter is you do not leave a legacy you live a legacy.

It is called the principal of modeling. Whether we like it or not we WILL model something. Our values and priorities will always show through our behavior, actions, reactions.

The question is will it be a GODLY example or not?

The truth is we cannot impart what we do not possess. In fact this is biblical.

Remember Jesus, Luke 6: 40. What did he say? Every learner, every disciple, every student when he is fully trained will be just like his… teacher.

Let me put it bluntly; your kids will never be what you tell them to be they will become what you are.

Deuteronomy 6: 5-9: Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

This is called the Shema. So important was this verse to Jewish households that they would recite it at the beginning of the day and at the end. Many believe it would have been the first scripture Jesus would have learned as a young boy.

Why am I focusing on it? It shows that the primary place to establish a GODLY legacy is in the home. Notice the command is first personal for the parent. Love your God…

Let me tell you something, you can be convicted by reading a lesson such as this…you can determine that you are going to change how you parent and what your goal of parenting is going is going to be. You can preach at your children till you are blue in the face…

BUT if you are not the person you want your kids to become, then the best you can do right now is deal with those things you do not want your children to learn or imitate. Hmmm… let me be blunt: if your first passion is anything besides Jesus Christ you have just given your children permission to pick their passion.

Mom's, when you hear "the apple does not fall far from the tree" you want that to be a compliment.