Hand It Down – 2 Chronicles 6:8-9

8 but God told him, 'It was good that you wanted to build a temple in my honor - most commendable! 

9 But you are not the one to do it. Your son, who will carry on your dynasty, will build it for my Name.'

– 2 Chronicles 6:8-9

Hand It Down

We all want to honor God.  We all desire to show Him how much we love Him and are devoted and grateful to Him. And we all have an idea of how we think we can use our talents, resources, abilities, and efforts to express that love, devotion, gratitude, and honor to Him.  All very good and commendable things in the eyes of God to be sure.

But . . . I believe the greatest way we can honor our Heavenly Father is by passing on our legacy of love, devotion, gratitude, and honor to our children and to the next generation.  We have a responsibility, especially as parents, to be willing to see our sons and daughters become greater than we ever could.  Greater in their devotional life, greater in their Spiritual life, and greater in their accomplishments for the Kingdom.  Our legacies – our dynasties (if you will) – should be that we've raised a generation who love God more than anything; who know Kingdom-building principles and are excited about spreading the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, and who understand and practice the importance of giving and receiving in God's economy.

In this generation of entitlement, instant gratification, and self-love, we need to persistently pour our hearts for God into the youth of our churches, our neighborhoods, and our world.  We need to show them how to live holy, and how to be humble, and how to serve others without the need for recognition or applause.  We need to help them understand that there is only One worthy of being idolized, and His name is Jesus, the Risen Christ, our God, our Redeemer, our Everything and All-in-All.  We need to be willing to deny our own ideas and let God direct us in passing them on and we need to be OK with letting and watching someone else build the dreams we hold so dear.

I believe that God will honor our heart for building His temple by the youthful enthusiasm and determination of the next generation that are God's children.  Our legacy will be that of servanthood to the greater purpose – HIS purpose – and our God will be honored, and His Glory lifted up, all because we were willing to carefully, and purposefully hand it all down to our sons and daughters . . . for Him.

Prayer

Father, You have given us so much, and in our gratitude we desire to build a temple of honor to Your Name and for Your Glory, but Your ways oh Lord, are not our ways, and sometimes You want us to lay aside our own plans for something greater.  Father help us to be willing.  Help us to lay down our pride and to pass on our dreams and our purposes to this next generation.  Help us to teach them how to build that temple of Honor, with the freshness of young minds and the abilities of young hearts.  Help us Lord, to build Your kingdom, Your way.

Have a blessed day everyone!

. . . and tell a young person how much God loves them today.

– Richard