Good stewardship includes parental provision for family inheritance. Children and wives should be trained to handle money before the need arises. "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Timothy 5:8).

Inheritance and your children
It is sufficient to say that many Christians who spend all they have, without regard for their children, are not good stewards. The common strategy with most people, including Christians, is to keep as much as possible while we're alive and leave it to our heirs when we die. Unfortunately, quite often the heirs are poorly trained to manage the assets.

Larry Burkett recalled one man he was counseling who had accumulated a sizable estate. When Larry asked him what he planned to do with it all, he said, "I'll leave it to my children, I guess." Larry asked him why he didn't just give it to them right then, and he replied, "Why, they don't know how to handle money; they'd just lose it all." When asked if he thought they wouldn't lose it after he died, his response was, "Well, I'll be gone then, so who cares?" Well, God cares, because being a good steward doesn't stop with death.

In biblical times, the sons inherited their fathers' properties and thus provided for the rest of their family. "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, and the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous" (Proverbs 13:22). What is not so obvious is that in most instances the sons received their inheritance while their fathers were still living. Thus, a father was able to oversee their stewardship while they were learning. The parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 reflects this principle.

Inheritance and your wife
Poor stewardship also means leaving an untrained wife to take over the management of the finances. Unfortunately, this is often the case, and the results are anxiety, frustration, and dependence on unwise counselors. Statistics tell us seven out of eight men die before their wives. Consequently, many women are forced into the role of estate manager with little or no knowledge in that area. To make matters worse, their husbands leave few guidelines for them to follow; in fact, in almost 70 percent of the cases, they don't even leave a valid will.

Further, the average man leaves about 20 percent of the minimum assets necessary to provide for his family. This includes total life insurance of about $20,000 or about the same average as in 1963. Why is this? We believe it really boils down to two current flaws: ignorance and slothfulness--ignorance, because most of us haven't been taught good stewardship, which includes inheritance; and slothfulness, because many people know what they should do but procrastinate until it's too late.

Conclusion
We challenge every Christian to develop a godly approach to inheritance, beginning right now. Establish a few fundamental absolutes about your inheritance.

• Develop a plan. For instance, at what age do you want to begin your children's training? How much will you entrust to their management? Who will help advise them?
  
• Train the wife. Be sure that the wife understands how to handle money well. Then, if something happens to her husband, she will know that she can manage the money.
  
• Create wills/trusts. Without a will, the state in which you live will distribute your assets according to their laws of intestacy. Rarely, if ever, will this be according to your wishes.