Reverence Journal

View Original

Advancing Through Inheritance

"It is tragic when each generation has to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, and discover for themselves something that they could have received through an impartation through inheritance. The time spent in rediscovery could have been spent building upon what the previous generation left to inherit." - Bill Johnson

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS! Instead of learning through the experiences of other people, we demand that we learn through our own mistakes and pain. Of course our own personal mistakes and pain will be effective teachers, but can't we also learn by simply being teachable and following spiritual fathers and mothers?

What if each generation of church leadership decided to build on what they inherited rather than tear it down through criticism?

If every transition, every change, every new leader and every new generation has to re-build from the ground up we'll never advance and never build anything sustainable. Our arrogance keeps the School of Hard Knocks in business when it should have been shut down long ago.

We have to learn how to impart and inherit. The Fathers and Mothers must learn how to impart wisdom, maturity and depth. The Sons and Daughters must discover how to inherit lessons and resources that were already paid for with someone else's blood, sweat and tears and value the sacrifices of the previous generation. Sons and Daughters should sacrifice in order to advance, not in order to reinvent the wheel.

We will never get anywhere, any farther than any other generation, until we learn to advance through the inheritance left by previous generations.