Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.
What Is A Good Man?
Luke 6:45 says "The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks." Given this verse we can determine a good man by the words he speaks. You can see in this verse that you can tell a good man by what he says and how he says it. A good man will say good things because his heart is overflowing with good treasures.
What exactly is meant in Luke 6:45 by "good treasure"? Many times throughout the Bible, wisdom is compared to treasure. In Proverbs 2 we are told to seek out the hidden treasure of wisdom like silver and gold. In our verse from Luke 6, one could make the case that the "good treasure" in the heart of the good man is wisdom. James 3:17 supports that conclusion when it tells us that "The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."
We see it again here, a person who has wisdom will have good fruit. In other words when someone acts in heavenly wisdom they will posses good characteristics. So a good man is a wise man.
How Can We Get Wisdom?
According to Proverbs 4:7 we see that attaining wisdom is a continual action. The verse says "The beginning of wisdom..." We see that there is a definite starting place and getting wisdom will done be something you do only once. It is different from getting a Bachelor's of Science degree.
Proverbs 4:7 "The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom."
What!? In order to get wisdom you have to get wisdom? Have you ever heard such a circular argument? What this verse is trying to say is that in order to get wisdom, you need to attempt to gain wisdom. You need to be on the look out for wisdom.
Proverbs 1:20-33 is a beautiful passage that depicts wisdom in a public market place shouting out. Despite wisdom being in the open trying to get the attention of people in the market, no one takes notice of her. So if you take the advice of Proverbs 4:7 and are trying to get wisdom, you will be on the look out and you begin the journey of attaining wisdom.
If we keep reading Proverbs, we find in chapter 9 verse 10 that...
Proverbs 9:10 "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
Once we start looking for wisdom, we find it, and the first thing wisdom tells us to do is "Fear the Lord".
How Will We Know We Have Wisdom?
As we said earlier it's not as simple as you have wisdom or not. It's more like you are trying to gain wisdom or not. You know that you are gaining wisdom when you find yourself fearing God. We can get into what that means in a different article but for now it can be (overly) simplified in this...if you turn away from sin and try to find out what pleases God and do those things, you fear God.
Proverbs 16:6 "Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for, through the fear of the LORD evil is avoided."
How Do You Create A Multi-Generational Inheritance?
How does being a father, fearing God, looking for wisdom, and being a provider come together? Money. It always comes down to money. Did you know that there are over 2300 verses about money, possessions, and wealth? This topic made up nearly 15% of Jesus' ministry! It really is simple, find out what God has to say on this topic then obey. This is how you will be getting wisdom by fearing the Lord and handling your money God's way allowing you to be a provider for generations to come!
Pay Off Debt - Yes, seriously God does not want you to be in debt. Psalm 37:21 says that a wicked person borrows and does not repay. Of course we are making the payments but in Romans 13:8 we are told to pay off all the debt not just the minimum payments. Why would God care so much? It's rather simple..."...the borrower is slave to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7b). If you owe someone money they own you. God wants to own you, all of you.
Work Hard and Save Your Money - Proverbs 13:11 teach that "Wealth gained hastily will dwindle but whoever gathers little by little will increase it." This tends to be true because money is like Jello, it goes where it wants and takes skill to control it. The skill of handling money needs to grow with the amount of money you have. If you can't handle a little you are destined to fail with a lot.
Not All Inheritance is Financial
Spirituality - Malachi says that God ordained marriage for godly offspring (Mal. 2:15). Part of our responsibility as Christian parents is to bring up our children to follow God. We need to model the Christian life for them. The ups, the downs, the triumphs, the defeats and day-to-day living as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Our children will be greatly affected by the quality of our spiritual life.
Our children should not start at square one, they should stand on our shoulders and start on a higher level. We should expose them to God’s love and truth early and in a way that they are positioned to go higher and further than we ever did, and so our grandchildren will know God and serve Him in ways we couldn’t have imagined.
Reputation and Legacy - We are not responsible for the decisions of our parents, but often must live with the consequences of their choices. Wealth won and lost, scandal, criminal history, and trauma from broken relationships are just a few ways we are affected by our family before us. We can, however, start with a fresh slate or carry on the good name and standards of our family before us.
How do you want God, your neighbors, your children, friends and the community to remember you? What character traits do you want to exhibit? How do you want to glorify God in your life and the life of your family? A solid family with a strong godly character and good name gives a child a true gift. They grow up thinking that strong character is normal. They see that integrity, purity and love are attainable and that those qualities bring favor from both God and man.