God's Gift of Money: Devotions from Time of GraceSample

Leaving a legacy

Has it ever occurred to you that buying life insurance on your own life is one of the most selfless things you can do (assuming you don’t cash out of the policy for your own benefit while you’re still living)? All of your payments are investments in the future that will provide confidence of financial security to your heirs during your lifetime and actual financial security when you die. But you won’t see the money--they will.

A distressing number of your and my neighbors and fellow church members have no financial legacy plans, no insurance beneficiaries, no will. In the case of believers, this is not only bad financial management; it is bad Christian stewardship. If you die intestate, no ministry or community charity can receive a dime from your estate. If you have no written and signed plan, a state-appointed lawyer will make the decisions.

Successful people are rarely completely self-made. Their education, value system, and financial security began decades, maybe many generations, before they were born. It is a great gift to arrange that the next generations in your family can start on a hill, not have to work their way out of a hole.

“A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children” (Proverbs 13:22). How have you benefited from past generations? What kind of legacy will you leave?