Most people think inheritance is primarily about money. Scripture presents a more nuanced picture. Proverbs 19:14 tells us that houses and wealth may be passed from one generation to the next, but some of life’s most valuable gifts come from God alone. Understanding the difference can reshape how we think about success, stewardship, parenting, and legacy.

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Ordinary Responsibilities and Extraordinary Gifts

Fathers can and should provide many things.

There are, however, some things a worldly father cannot provide.

I can give my children material things but I cannot give my children salvation.

“No man can come to me [Jesus Christ] unless the father [God the Father] draws him.” – John 6:44

Now, clearly, a father should be a role model for Christian living, the good kind of Christian living (not the hypocritical, faithless, heartless, apathetic kind), and so affect a child’s view of who God is and how to approach God through Jesus.

Yet, I must draw a distinction between my responsibilities and God’s responsibilities.

Recently, my own father and I were discussing his late-in-life job search and I casually mentioned to him “Prayer and patience.”

To that he responded, “and performance.”

Prayer, patience, and performance.

To me, prayer, patience, and performance so fully describes the responsibility of a man, a husband, and a father.

To prioritize prayer is to demonstrate faith in a loving God who hears prayer and recognize God’s sovereign power over all circumstances.

Having patience and letting events unfold over a period of time shows reliance on God and His timing, not to mention a developing of character, integrity, and grit to endure and persevere through adversity.

With performance, there is still a role for us to play after praying for God to act and patiently waiting on God’s act. We must continue to grind, to work, to pour ourselves out in what we ought.

Too often apathy and laziness creep in under the pretense of patience when in fact we are oozing laziness out of our bones.

“Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, as unto the Lord rather than man…” – Colossians 3:23

Why Building Wealth Still Matters

“Houses and wealth are inherited from parents…” – Proverbs 19:14a

This is a challenging statement. If someone tells you that you must leave house and wealth to your children, the first rational question to ask is, “Do I have house and wealth to leave?”

What’s the answer to that question for you?

Here’s my transparent answer: I currently can only leave 26% of my house to my children (the rest is still owned by the bank!).

Maybe it’s different for you. Maybe you rent an apartment and have 0% house to leave your kids.

Maybe you own your home completely and can check that box.

What about wealth? Do you consider yourself wealthy or do you live paycheck to paycheck?

Perhaps you’re like me and are working hard to become debt free and build wealth so that you can check both boxes of leaving house and wealth to your children. If so, I wholeheartedly recommend maturing in personal finance. One book that helped me focus and prioritize financially is The Total Money Makeover.

The first step in living out this Proverb is developing a financial plan and the discipline to follow it.

What Wealth Actually Is

In the context of this Proverb, wealth refers to financial abundance and material resources that can be passed from one generation to the next.

Some people have a lot of possessions but they aren’t valuable.

Others may have valuable possessions but they are limited in number or not readily accessible.

To create abundance, we must bring in more than we send out.

We must make more money than we spend.

The Law of the Harvest is always at work. You reap what you sow.

In order to have abundance, we must have self-discipline, which Brian Tracy describes as “Doing what you should, when you should, whether you feel like it or not.”

Shouldn’t that be the anthem of fathers everywhere? Men who do what they should, when they should, whether they feel like it or not?

I hope that’s how my children describe me when I’ve passed on to a better life in Heaven. I pray to live the kind of life that allows me to be a Proverbs 19:14 kind of man. Someone who is self-disciplined enough in my own life to leave house and wealth to my children, to recognize God’s sovereignty over material things, and discern between the ordinary and extraordinary.

Legacy Is Bigger Than Money

Most people are not remembered for how much money they left behind.

They’re remembered for their impact:

• Impact on their family
• Impact on their friends
• Impact on the community they served
• Impact on the work they were most passionate about

Leaving a legacy transcends material things like money and possessions.

It emphasizes subjective things like feelings, thoughts, and identity.

The way we live now sets the stage for how we are remembered later.

The power really is in our hands to leave a lasting legacy.

Along the way of leaving a rich legacy of positive impacts, maybe we can also leave house and wealth to our children.