#68: A Legacy for Our Children
IDENTITY POLITICS | Mark Boonstra: Let your aim in life be to attain to goodness rather than greatness among men: the former is solid, the latter all vanity, and often leads to ruin.
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The legacy we leave our children must be one rooted in the truth and authority of the Word of God. Scripture calls us to train up our children in the ways of the Lord so that they may walk in His wisdom and carry His truth forward. Honoring the history of God’s Word means instilling in them a deep reverence for its teachings, a commitment to faithfulness, and a heart to uphold righteousness in the generations to come. Likewise, recognizing the biblical foundation upon which our nation was built calls us to preserve the values of justice, integrity, and faith that shaped its beginnings. When we pass down a legacy of unwavering faith and steadfast devotion to both God and the principles that uphold our communities, we empower our children to become courageous stewards of truth. They are not only inheritors of a nation but ambassadors of a higher Kingdom, charged with the responsibility of standing firm in their convictions and shining God’s light wherever they go. -Stephen Phinney
A LEGACY FOR OUR CHILDREN
Today I find myself once again reflecting on the legacy we leave for our children.
My daughter and her husband just had their first child. A healthy boy. They named him Benjamin. A strong name. A traditional name. A Biblical name.
The Benjamin of the Old Testament was the youngest (of 12 sons) of Jacob (the grandson of Abraham) and the younger full-brother of Joseph. Their mother, Rachel, died giving birth to Benjamin. Their 10 half-brothers later sold Joseph into slavery, but he rose to become the Egyptian Pharaoh’s chief administrator. When Jacob sent the brothers to that country to seek refuge from famine, Joseph (without revealing his identity) demanded that the brothers bring Benjamin to him. Once convinced that the brothers had changed their evil ways, Joseph revealed his identity and invited them to live out the remaining days of famine amidst the plenty of Egypt. The family was reunited, and Benjamin became the progenitor of the Tribe of Benjamin.
God used evil to, in time, accomplish something good.
I do not yet know whether our newly born Benjamin will come to know me as Grandpa, Gramps, Papa, Opa, or something else.
But what I do know is that we have brought another beautiful soul into this world.
Unfortunately for Benjamin (and for the rest of us), this world is far from perfect. Life can be hard at times, and we all face trials and tribulations of various sorts.
Worse still, and as much as I would like it to be otherwise, there remains a lot of evil in this world. The face of evil is sometimes difficult to recognize in the moment. But it is ever-present, and we must be continually on guard against it. If only Adam and Eve had been a bit more vigilant in the Garden of Eden.
The battle between Good and Evil has been ongoing since those early days. And, unfortunately, it is a battle that will continue until God’s ultimate triumph over Satan in the final days.
In the meantime, the battle goes on, and we must do our best as soldiers in God’s army to vanquish the evil that confronts us. As happens in battle, there are ebbs and flows. We seem at times to be gaining the upper hand. At other times, all hope seems lost. That Satan is a busy guy.
Of course, each of us is only here for a snapshot in the time of human history. We can only do so much.
So how do we ensure that the forces of Good are fortified for the fight that will continue after we are gone?
It is, of course, through the legacy that we leave to our children. Our children and their children must continue the fight.
That is why parenting is perhaps the most important responsibility we have in life. And true parenting is about far more than filling our babies’ bellies with bodily nourishment.
More importantly, it is about filling their souls with spiritual nourishment. It’s about raising them to be good and righteous people. It’s about instilling in them a consciousness of right and wrong. It’s about imparting an innate appreciation that what truly matters in life is how we conduct ourselves, how we treat others, and whether we abide by the fundamental moral precepts that are embodied in the law of God, the very law that guided that earlier Benjamin in the days of the Old Testament.
That is, of course, most important for our children’s own eternal life. But it is also necessary to train the soldiers who will, in their individual ways, continue to wage battle for the forces of Good.
That is why our Founding Fathers were so adamant that we need to erect our society on the “indispensable supports” (in George Washington’s words) of morality and religion.
It’s why another Benjamin—Benjamin Rush (a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Pennsylvania) called for the Bible to be “read in our schools in preference to all other books,” because, he said, “the only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in Religion.”
It’s why yet another Benjamin—Benjamin Franklin—not only called for prayer at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, but declared that:
A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district, all studied and appreciated as they merit, are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty.
When I wrote my book, In Their Own Words: Today’s God-less America . . . What Would Our Founding Fathers Think?, I dedicated it in part to our children and grandchildren.
And I invited them to “read especially the chapter on Thomas Stone (of Maryland), and take note of his letter to his son. He said it better than I ever could.”
Stone, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, died in 1787 at the age of forty-four, just months after his wife had died. Days before his impending death, his love of God ever preeminent in his soul, Stone penned a letter of advice to his twelve-year-old son, Frederick, imploring him to conduct himself rightly, to do his duty to God, to say his prayers and attend divine worship service, and to think more of his soul’s health and the next world than of this one, and he commended his son to God’s protection.
I leave you with the full text of that letter.
MY DEAR FREDERICK—I am now in a weak state, about to travel, and probably shall not see you more. Let me intreat you to attend to the following advice which I leave you as a legacy, keep and read it, and resort to it.
In the first place, do your duty to God in spirit and in truth, always considering him as your best protector, and doing all things to please him; nothing to offend him; and be assured he is always present and knows all your thoughts and actions, and that you will prosper and be happy if you please him, and miserable and unhappy if you displease him. Say your prayers every day, and attend divine worship at church regularly and devoutly, with a pious design of doing your duty and receiving instruction. Think more of your soul’s health and the next world than of this, and never do wrong on any account. Be honest, religious, charitable and kind, guarded in your conduct, and upright in your intentions.
Shun all giddy, loose and wicked company; they will corrupt and lead you into vice, and bring you to ruin. Seek the company of sober, virtuous and good people, who will always shew you examples of rectitude of conduct and propriety of behaviour—which will lead to solid happiness.
Be always attentive to the advice of your uncles, Doct. Brown and Michael J. Stone, and do nothing of consequence without consulting them. Be respectful to your seniors, and all your friends, and kind to every body. Seek to do all the good you can, remembering that there is no happiness equal to that which good actions afford. Be attentive, and kind, and loving, to your sisters, and when you grow up protect and assist them on all occasions.
Take care not to be seduced by the professions of any person to do what your heart tells you is wrong, for on self-approbation all happiness depends.
Attend to your education and learning, and never let your mind be idle, which is the root of all evil, but be constantly employed in virtuous pursuits or reflections.
Let your aim in life be to attain to goodness rather than greatness among men: the former is solid, the latter all vanity, and often leads to ruin in this and the next world. This I speak from experience.
I commend you to heaven’s protection. May God of his infinite mercy protect you, and lead you to happiness in this world and the next, is the most fervent prayer of your loving father.
May we all leave such a legacy to our children and grandchildren.
Identity Politics, with Mark Boonstra & Dr. Stephen Phinney, is an extension of IOM America’s IM Christian Writers Association. The mission of the authors is to restore faith in God & country.
-Mark | Mark’s Substack | Visit Mark’s Website
Amen. You are a very special man.