Hey Grandpa, What If You Prioritize Your Grandkids Over Luxury Retirement ‘Lifestyle Choices’?
A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. Proverbs 13:22
I think I shared with y’all that I just signed up for Medicare. For the life of me I cannot figure out how I got so danged old. The thought of being 65 is sobering…I remember when 65 seemed really old.
But that is the reality of my life. And unlike so many others of my generation that I cross paths with, I am not in the middle of some identify crisis. The central focus of my life, other than the Lord, is the care and nurturing of our beloved children’s children.
Michele and I are “Grampie” and “Gigi” to four little jewels and now that our lives have slowed down a pace or two I realize how much I missed in the raising of our own three children. The hustle and bustle of providing for a young family seems to absorb so much of your time that the raising of our own children is really nothing more than faint memories.
I thank Jesus that He didn’t let me mess up our own children too much…we had no idea what we were doing. Parenting is a classic case of on-the-job-training if there ever was one. You know the old saying…if I knew then what I know now…sometimes life would be easier if it was lived backwards.
Ultimately, your children and grandchildren are really all that matters in life.
Michele and I were rolling down the interstate the other day when came upon one of those huge recreational vehicles that are so common on America’s highways. As we passed by I couldn’t help but notice the bumper sticker on the back.
“We’re Spending Our Children’s Inheritance.” I know it was supposed to be a joke but it didn’t strike me as funny…it struck me as sad. Is there anything sadder than a selfish old couple living out their retirement years spending the inheritance?
Are you mad at me yet, you selfish old baby boomers? Well, sit back and enjoy the ride.
Living for oneself is a pretty empty lifestyle. A good man, the Scriptures tell us, leaves something behind. The only difference between some of my retired friends and the pouty millennials is that at least the old folks are able to pay their own way. Their grandchildren want a lot of things as well…they simply want somebody else to pay for it.
Look in the mirror, Grandpa and Grandma, your bank account may be healthy but the lives of your grandchildren are empty. Heritage is more than money. A wise man once warned us “what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” A more current paraphrase might be, “what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose the souls of his grandchildren?”
Leaving an inheritance is serious business. And it isn’t about money. It is about tradition…culture
…faith…and eternal life. Trading a $500,000 state of the art RV for an empty spiritual legacy isn’t a very good trade. That is something that a “good” man would never do. There are some things a child can only learn from a grandparent.
I was reminded of that again last week when the latest slaughter took place in one of our government schools. I watched “our leaders” offer all kinds of solutions as to how to keep the children safe inside the government indoctrination centers. No one would point out that it wasn’t an “assault rifle” that took the lives of some grandparents’ grandchildren, but a darkened heart.
Jesus told us “the light came into the world but the men loved darkness because their deeds were evil.” Evil hearts produce evil fruit. It is not the guns that the grandparents should worry about but the blackened hearts of the children that their grandkids attend school with.
Jesus also warned us that we should “fear not he who has the power to kill the body, but rather he that has the power to kill the soul.” Although your grandkids might be “good kids” they are surrounded daily by soul-less classmates…internet zombies…who don’t know the difference between good and evil. I can assure you of this, you would immediately remove your grandkids from school if you were able to see the hearts of some of the classmates they are exposed to on a daily basis.
So what are you waiting for Grandpa? At what point are you going to sit down with your own children and offer to pay for a private Christian education for your grandkids? When will you go to your own children and offer to pay their mortgage if Mom stayed home and homeschooled your grandbabies? What good will your Luxury RV be when you see your once-innocent granddaughter struggle to get off of drugs and reject all of the values that you had hoped to instill in them?
Every one of those crazy snowflakes that you see marching on TV probably have grandparents who would tell you what a “sweet” and “innocent” child their grandchild had been as a youngster. What could possibly have caused them to reject their grandparents’ values? Something happened along the way. Something stole their soul. Most American kids have not spent the first minute in Sunday school.
Guns should be the least of our worries. The public schools are destroying the souls of America’s children. Grandmas and Grandpas must sacrifice everything they have to protect the souls of the precious progeny. Sell you vacation condo. Sell your motor home. Do whatever you can to rescue our future from the grips of the Secularists. Your grandkids need your investment now…not after you die.
Our children ARE our inheritance. Invest all you have into them. Nothing matters more. It is time to start leaving an inheritance rather than spending it. Sell your RV and build an arc. The souls of your grandkids are the ultimate prize.
What is the value of your loved one’s soul? Be careful you don’t trade what you cannot keep for the thing that you must not lose.
Are you spending the inheritance?
Image: CC0 Creative Commons; Excerpted from: https://pixabay.com/en/mobile-home-rv-canada-2872471/