What is the greatest inheritance you can leave for your children?

Paul Carrington emphasizes that while leaving a material inheritance is important, the greatest legacy one can leave is the Word of God. It's not just about teaching it, but living it out in a way that your life centers around God, His work, and His church. Children may not remember specific dates or events, but they will remember the atmosphere of the home and what was most important to their parents. This legacy of faith becomes a lasting inheritance, shaping their understanding and relationship with God.

In homes where parents truly love God, children observe their parents' genuine dedication, not just a routine practice of faith. Carrington shares the story of John G. Payton, a Scottish missionary, whose greatest reflection was the prayer life and scriptural dedication of his father. Even decades later, this example of faith impressed upon him the truth of God's existence. Such a heritage is invaluable, as it influences not only one's children but also future generations, demonstrating the profound impact of simple, faithful living.

Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV): "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

We are to leave our children in inheritance, but by far and away the greatest inheritance is the Word of God. Not just only taught, but lived out, but even more than just lived out for them to see our lives really orbiting or revolving around God, His work, His church, so that they, at the end of the day, they're not going to remember everything. They're not going to necessarily remember, I don't know, October 18th, you know, 2019, right? But they're going to get a sense of the atmosphere of the home. What was my dad about?

What was my mother about? What was the thing that was most important to them? That's really their inheritance, right? For good or for bad, you see in broken homes, the cycle continues because brokenness will just continue because they know nothing else. But in a godly home where children are observing their parents again, not just doing things erode, not just doing things because it's what we do, but because we truly love God.

I think that comes through and that will be an inheritance. And we see that one of the most beautiful autobiographies I ever read was by a man called John G. Payton, right, that Scottish missionary to the New Hebrides. And he's writing his autobiography toward the end of his life, maybe in his 70s. And his greatest reflections, probably the thing he has the greatest gratitude for, is he looks back to the time when he was living in a small cottage with I think there was a total of 11 children, one room or something like that, and he would remember the prayer life of his father, the dedication of his father to basically teach them the scriptures.

And how is that after 60 years he looks back and he says that if all the Bibles were taken away he says I would still know that God is true because I could look at my father and I would see a man who loved God. And I thought to me that that's a great inheritance. By the way, not only John G. Peyton, I think, but all of his brothers, all of them became ministers. That doesn't necessarily mean that that's the mark of a great inheritance.

But boy, if we could understand what we're leaving behind by our simple, faithful living, it's the day in and day out. It's not the big bang necessarily, but my dad loves God. My mother, I don't understand everything. She had some faults or whatever, but she loved God, right? That's, I think, what we want to leave to our children and that is the greatest inheritance.

Thanks for watching!