![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/generations-300x200.jpg\")
Photo by Jed Owen on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n
What prompted my thinking about this was reading about the death in Nashville of Willie Maupin. He is survived by 4 children, 12 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren, 11 great-great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great-great-grandchild. That’s 56 descendants in 5 generations! He was 99 years old. I’m pretty sure that Willie did not leave a vast fortune to be distributed to his offspring, but there is something that should be of far greater value than money or property.<\/p>\n
The Bible frequently refers to various individuals’ deaths. Among those is Abraham’s death. “Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people<\/em>” (Genesis 25:8). How was he “satisfied with life?” Was it not because he had served God faithfully all the days of his life? Note God’s promise to Abraham. “No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations<\/em>” (Genesis 17:5). It is obvious that God knew Abraham’s heart.<\/p>\n In giving a charge to Israel, God said: “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 4:9) Note they were to make God’s will “known to your sons and your grandsons<\/em>.”<\/p>\n There is no greater nor more valuable legacy that parents can leave for their children than a life lived in service to God. As I consider my own family history, we are now the fourth generation of those who are serving God since the lineage started with my grandparents, J. D. and Nannie Yater Tant, and Oscar Lorenzo, and “E” Gotto, with the fifth generation now growing up.<\/p>\n Dear reader, as you consider your life and what you will leave behind when you die, what legacy will you leave? It’s not wrong to leave things of this world to benefit your descendants, but there is nothing greater than leaving a legacy of faithful service to God. And you need not wait until –whenever. Some years ago we had a very devout older couple with us. They were an asset to the congregation. But they waited “too late.” They did not give diligence in serving the Lord until their children were older, and as I recall, not one of their five children was a faithful Christian. We are preparing our “legacy” every day that we live. Don’t put it off until “tomorrow.”<\/p>\n “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Eph. 6:4). And mothers, follow the example Paul mentioned to Timothy; “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well<\/em>” (II Timothy 1:5).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Jefferson David Tant An old saying says there are only two things that are certain – death and taxes. And there is much truth in that. \ud83d\ude0a Something in today’s paper got my mind thinking about one of those certainties -death. And what about death? The word “legacy” came to mind, so I looked…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1028],"tags":[353],"class_list":["post-27890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-parenting","tag-influence"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29305,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-the-bible-says-sin-brings-forth-death-is-that-talking-about-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":27890,"position":0},"title":"When the Bible says sin brings forth death, is that talking about hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In James 1:13-16 at the end when it says \"sin when it is full-grown brings forth death\" or something like that. Is the \"death\" referring to hell? Answer: It is referring to spiritual death, which does ultimately lead to hell. Think about it this way: The first time you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27586,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-find-peace-when-i-have-an-appointment-with-death-that-i-cant-avoid\/","url_meta":{"origin":27890,"position":1},"title":"How can I find peace when I have an appointment with death that I can\u2019t avoid?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I don't even know what to teach my children. Do I tell them \"no heaven isn't for you ... you'll reign on earth after sleeping for a million years or so\"? I'm starting to feel like Christianity is all about feelings. We have been taught what makes us feel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88978,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-legacy-of-dorcas\/","url_meta":{"origin":27890,"position":2},"title":"The Legacy of Dorcas","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson We don't know much about her-she is mentioned in only one brief passage in the New Testament (Acts 9:36-42). But everything we know about Dorcas is good. She was a disciple. The word disciple means learner. She had learned to live the life of a Christian. She\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":808,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-sin-leading-to-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":27890,"position":3},"title":"A Sin Leading to Death (Article)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton \"If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2345,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/psalms-22\/","url_meta":{"origin":27890,"position":4},"title":"Psalms 22","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Psalms 22 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Life can get very difficult at times and we can easily get overwhelmed by the struggle. What do we do? II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why doesn\u2019t God do something? - Psalms 22:1-5 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We not only want a solution, we also have a time in mind that we want it solved\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87643,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/spiritually-minded\/","url_meta":{"origin":27890,"position":5},"title":"Spiritually Minded","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ronny E. Hinds A Christian's greatest need, without exception, is to be spiritually minded. This means the primary focus of life is spiritual matters. It means that every thought and action is controlled by what God wants. This way of thinking always asks, \"Do these thoughts, does this behavior,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27890\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}