What Will They Inherit?

Someone who spent a week around you would learn quite a bit without asking a single question. They would notice what makes you rush, what gets your attention, and how you speak when something goes wrong. They might learn that people matter more than schedules. Or that being right matters more than listening. Most of us are teaching something all day long, even when we never plan a lesson. That is what makes Deuteronomy 6:5-9 feel so close to home. Moses talks about loving God, then moves straight into sitting at home, walking along the road, going to bed, and getting up. These are ordinary moments. Yet they are also places where a way of life takes shape. You do not need a stage to pass something on. You already have a daily life, and someone may already be watching it.

Start by reading the passage slowly. Notice where Moses begins: love the Lord with your whole heart, soul, and strength. Before these words reach the children, they are meant to settle into the adults. Verse 6 says they should be on your heart. That order matters. You cannot pass on a love for God simply by placing a Bible on a shelf or sending someone to a church program. Those things can help, but this passage reaches into your own attention and choices. Kris Vallotton connects this with the question running through his sermon: how do royal people behave? Drawing on the Bible's description of God's people as a royal priesthood, he urges believers to live from their belonging to God. In that light, daily habits become more than personal preferences. They show what life in God's family looks like, especially when anger, envy, or the pressure to fit in pulls another way.

That can feel like a lot of responsibility, especially if your own family did not give you much to build on. Vallotton speaks openly about learning a different way from the one he grew up with. His emphasis offers a hopeful starting place: what you received does not have to be everything you pass along. Today, choose one ordinary moment to practice what this passage describes. During breakfast, thank God for something specific. After snapping at someone, own it and ask forgiveness. On a walk, talk about one thing you are learning from Scripture. If you do not have children, think about a friend, a younger believer, or someone you work beside. Your life still touches other lives. You cannot control what another person will choose, but you can make love for God visible in your own choices. A lasting heritage can begin with something as small as the next conversation.