When 101-year-old Eugenia Dodson died, no one had any idea how wealthy she was. She’d lived frugally, working as a beautician and investing the nest egg her late husband left her when he’d passed fifty years earlier. But Dodson left $35.6 million for cancer and diabetes research. Both diseases had ravaged her family, and she’d wanted to help others. Dodson used her vast resources to care for future generations she would never meet. One representative said, “She was dead set on doing good for humankind. She had a big heart.”

Proverbs says that if we want to make an impact and live a truly good life, then we’ll think not merely about our own needs but about the needs of those who’ll come after us. “A good person,” Scripture says, “leaves an inheritance for their children’s children” (13:22). This admonition refers to helping our own family, but it also has implications for how we invest spiritually and in other ways in all the generations to come. In Israel’s communal culture, “children’s children” referred to a far wider circle than modern notions of a narrow nuclear family.

There are numerous ways we can invest in the futures of others. Some may be able to pass on a financial inheritance. But as our loving God provides what we need, all of us can pass along a legacy of integrity, share a heritage of faithful prayer, and steward His creation for all who follow (v. 23).