A Double Portion

“Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” (2 Kings 2:9)

What will your life inspire in the next generation? What if they do what you do, doubly well? Will their relationships be twice the disaster? Or, will your choices inspire them to seek to be twice the quality of person you have become?

If you go to church once a month, as adults, your children will probably go twice a year. If your children see your Bible collecting dust on the shelf, when they are grown and own a home, they may simply choose to save the space. If your children only hear you use a few words of profanity, they may choose to arm their vocabulary not with a few profane words, but with them all. If you are constantly critical of your children and of others, their world will be twice as dark.

Our walk should inspire our children to be twice the student of Scripture, even more devoted to Christ, more edifying in speech, and more hopeful than we seem to be. Our lives should inspire the next generation to elevate.

If you want your daughter to marry a great man, be a great father. If you want your son to marry a great woman, show him what great women are like. If you do not want your children to suffer financial shipwreck as adults, teach them to save. If you want your kids to work as adults, give them chores as children.

We are all inspiring. Some inspire tragedy. Those they influence will be double the disaster. Some inspire virtue. Those they influence will be double the blessing to others that someone has been to them.

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