Greg Chandler
04/03/15
Heirs are a headache! As the wise man of Ecclesiastes thought of the future, he envisioned the labors of his hard work quickly squandered by unappreciative generations that followed. Concerning this, he wrote, “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity” (2:18-19). Statistics bear out the legitimacy of his fear. Wealth counselor Tim Voorhees, in his 2009 article Why Most Families Lose Their Wealth by the Third Generation, notes that 60% of inherited wealth wastes away by the second generation and 90% of families have almost none of the original wealth by the end of the third generation. Indeed, the wise man knew that, “An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning will not be blessed in the end” (Proverbs 20:21).
Such statistics come as no surprise to Christians who understand that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. Christians, however, must appreciate the same lesson with a far more precious commodity: faith in God. Like wealth, generational faith quickly disappears because it is not grounded in the hard work and study necessary to build a relationship with God that will endure. Barna research undertook an intensive five year study to determine how and why young people leave the “faith of their childhood.” Researchers divided those who lost their faith into three categories: prodigals, nomads, and exiles. The prodigals are those who once claimed Christianity, yet lose their faith later in life; the nomads are those who still claim Christianity, but are relatively inactive with their church; the exiles are those who feel torn between the morality of their church and the culture in which they live. All told, researchers determined that 3 out of 10 young people who grow up in Christian churches remain faithful.* Such statistics bear out the simple fact that faith cannot be inherited!
Why do so many young people fall away from the Lord? At the base of this problem is the hard truth that they never belonged to the Lord in the first place. Outward show may have created a façade of faithfulness, with young people able to parrot their parent’s views on various issues and perhaps even participating in religious activities their parents deemed important. Yet, like the second generation families of wealth, the second generation “Christians” did not work to understand what it truly means to be a Christian. Much of the “heavy lifting” was done for them and thus a true appreciation for surrender to God was never learned. Blame for this outcome can many times be found with both generations. Children who grow up in Christian homes are given a very great blessing, yet parents in these homes must realize that there really are no “second generation” Christians. Though they give their children a firm foundation in Bible knowledge, they must allow the child, as he or she matures, to question what has been taught without making the child feel like a rebel. The words of the Apostle Paul are standard fare when discussing faith: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). To develop an appropriate faith, anyone, including children raised in Christian homes, must develop that faith only through the words of Jesus Christ. Parents can guide, help, and shape, but ultimate salvation is found only between the believer and God.
Blame can also be found in a generation that is happy to allow parents to do the heavy lifting. To this ilk, religion is reduced to its bear minimum and basically viewed as what one does “at church.” The idea of changing one’s life, seeking holiness, and becoming Christ-like is viewed as church-speak with no appreciation given for the real change that is needed. Simply put, this is laziness! Though parents labor to get their children to take the word of God seriously, no real need is seen since, ultimately, the children see no real need for God. “Going to church” seems to satisfy all that is needed and thus, when the tests of life come, such unprepared individuals are quickly swept away. It soon becomes painfully obvious that the “inheritance” received from godly parents is lost on an unaccepting second generation.
Since faith is non-transferable, anyone who desires to enjoy the salvation of the Lord must first understand that this relationship is developed solely between the individual and the Lord. This requires the serious work of first accepting that there is a God and that this God is in control. Following this, it is coming to understand that Jesus Christ is the only means to salvation and this salvation is found strictly through the standard laid down by the Lord in His word. Finally, it is accepting that sins are washed away in the waters of baptism and that life following baptism is dedicated to becoming holy as the Lord is holy. While parents can teach this to their children, they cannot live this for their children. While children can learn this from the parents, they cannot live this through their parents. When this is accepted, a strong faith that rests solely on the strength of the Lord is begun.
In the long-run, what happens to wealth in the second and third generations is of relative little importance. Development of faith, however, has eternal consequences and must be taken as a literal decision of life or death. Families should work hard to help one another grow in faith, but must refrain from believing that faith can be transferred. As the Apostle Paul, may all desire “that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (I Corinthians 2:5).
* See Five Myths About Young Adult Church Dropouts at barna.org for citation and further information concerning these statistics.