This past Sunday our church family celebrated a week-long Vacation Bible School program.
It included songs from the week, video presentations, and testimonies about what happened in the lives of children and volunteers during the week. One of the group leaders named Bobbi, shared this powerful story… (my rendition of her words below)
What struck me most about Bobbi’s story was that one of the main things the little boy remembered about his Daddy was a series of repeated moments when his Dad had invested in him spiritually. Who knows if the Dad realized the significance of what he was doing, or if he was just singing a children’s song to his child because it seemed a good thing to do. But after the fact, seeing how the memory of his Daddy singing “Jesus loves me” to him jarred a little boy out of the pain of his still-grieving heart, I realized anew that every moment and every engagement we make with our children on a spiritual level, counts.
In the same worship service,
our Pastor shared an update on his wife’s cousin, who was diagnosed just 3 weeks prior with stage 3 cancer. She had passed away within the last week and from all accounts had left a great legacy of her own. She was 39 years old and left a husband and three children behind.
I don’t want to forget the importance of building a legacy of faith in my children because there’s much more than the lives of my immediate family at stake. Their children and their children, for generations will be impacted by my faithfulness (or lack of faithfulness) now. I don’t want to stand before the LORD ashamed because my lack of diligence and caring concern for the spiritual well being of my family caused generations of my descendants to be strangers to the grace of God.
What about you?
What needs to change in your life today to enable you to make a lasting spiritual impact on your family?
- Do you need to find a new job that allows you the time to be present and invest in your family?
- Do you need to jettison some hobbies or fun that has been taking up way too much time?
- Do you need to set a better example by getting your own spiritual life on track?
- Do you need to better demonstrate that what you preach is what you practice, so that your children are drawn to a genuine faith that fuels your life?
Or it might be something else. But the fact is that every person reading this can and should be making a lasting spiritual impact on their family, and as we do, the generations to come will be effected.
Below is one of my favorite songs on this issue…
I want you to hear it because life is short and it HAS to count. I appreciate Nicole’s perspective that “In the end I’d like to hang my hat on more besides the temporary trappings of this world. I want to leave a legacy.”
by 
