For Your Heirs

[515 words] “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children” (Prov. 13:22). The good side of an inheritance is that it gives children a start in life. It is one of the most effective forms of compound interest ever devised. The bad side is that children often fight over an inheritance. One man said to Jesus, “Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me” (Luke 12:13). Some of them also waste it on wild living (Luke 15:11-13). The problem is not the inheritance. It is the heirs. An inheritance is a good thing, but there is the danger of overdoing it. We may not agree with every word in the following quotations, but the overall thrust of these observations from the past is deserving of our consideration. In 1834 Noah Webster wrote, “With most persons, the gaining of property is a primary object, and…