What We Owe the Next Generation
How Kingdom thinking shapes children, money, and legacy
Today is my son James’ birthday. And birthdays have a way of slowing time just enough to remind us what actually matters. Children do that. They pull us out of abstraction and back into stewardship. Back into the realization that nothing we hold is truly ours, and everything we’ve been given is on loan from God, entrusted to us for a season.
Raising children is the most sacred form of capital allocation there is. Time. Attention. Values. Convictions. Habits. We are not just raising kids. We are shaping stewards. Scripture is clear that children are assignments. A heritage is not something you consume. It is something you protect, cultivate, and pass forward stronger than you received it.
“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him” - Psalm 127:3
Money is one of the earliest and most powerful teachers we hand our children, whether intentionally or accidentally. They learn from how we earn it, how we spend it, how we talk about it, and how tightly or loosely we hold it. Somewhere along the way, they must also learn the difference between what something costs and what something is truly worth because price is temporary, but value is enduring. Jesus spoke about money often not because it is ultimate, but because it reveals what we trust. If we want our children’s hearts anchored in truth, we must show them that money is a servant, not a savior.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” - Matthew 6:21
This is where tithing matters deeply in a household. Not as a rule, but as a posture. Tithing teaches our children that God is first, not leftover. That provision flows from obedience, not control. When children see generosity modeled consistently, they learn abundance without entitlement and discipline without fear.
“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing” - Proverbs 3:9–10
Preparing our children for the future is not about shielding them from hardship. It is about equipping them with wisdom. It is understanding risk and restraint. It is learning patience in a culture addicted to immediacy. It is teaching them to build on foundations laid by prior generations, not squander them.
This is why conversations about sound money, stewardship, and long-term thinking matter. The world will teach our children to chase speed, leverage, and consumption. God teaches something entirely different. He teaches multiplication through faithfulness. He teaches growth through responsibility. He teaches legacy through obedience. The Parable of the Talents was never about money alone. It was about trust. About what happens when God places resources in human hands and steps back to see what we will do with them.
On James’ birthday, I am reminded that my role is not to control outcomes, but to cultivate character. To teach him that everything we touch belongs first to God. That our job is to steward well, multiply wisely, give freely, and prepare the ground for those who come after us. That is how generations are built. That is how faith endures. And that is how God’s resources, leased to us for a moment, become a blessing far beyond our lifetime.
Prayer
Father, thank You for children and for the sacred responsibility of stewardship. Give us wisdom as parents to teach truth, patience, generosity, and courage. Help us model obedience with our resources and humility with our success. Teach us to steward what You entrust to us wisely, to multiply it faithfully, and to pass it forward stronger than we received it. May our children grow to honor You with all they are and all they hold. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 🙏✨