Passing the Baton: Old + New = Synergy
In Jr. High, I ran track. Triple jump, high jump, hurtles, 40, 60, and 100 yard dash. I enjoyed the “run and done” events but I wasn’t and still am not the biggest fan of long distance running. However, one summer track meet one of my fellow team players wasn’t able to make it and I got called in by my coach to run in a baton relay in his place. I was trained and equipped in short distance sprints that only depended upon me and my own preparation; buy what I was being asked to do now would require team synergy. You can’t win a relay race all on your own and your transition points are the most important parts of the race, not purely your speed. I learned really quickly how important practicing that pass off is! Having not been trained for this race, I for sure dropped the baton to the grief of my team.
“You can’t win a relay race all on your own and your transition points are the most important parts of the race, not purely your speed. ”
Every generation at some point says the same things: “We’re better!” or “When I was a kid _.” or “It’s time for change!” But the fact is, life is like a relay race: The old need the young and the young need the old. You know the success of one generation not only based upon their personal accolades but by how successfully the new generation intercepts the baton! If the pass off never happens, the previous generation failed. Just as lasting multigenerational wealth requires the next generations, or the inheritors to be prepared and trained to wisely steward, guard, and further multiply the inheritance that their children’s children might too have an inheritance, so too sons and daughters must be challenged, trained, and equipped with the strengths, the legacy, and mission of the former generation. There is something so powerful when the sons stand on the fathers shoulders instead of having to start all over again. Here in America, we take great pride in being “self made” - the underdogs who came from nothing and becoming something great! But as incredible as those stories are, the bible shares many different examples of the importance of a continuation of a legacy established by another for the sake of future generations.
“When David’s time to die approached, he gave instructions to Solomon his son, saying, 2 “I am going the way of all the earth [as dust to dust]. Be strong and prove yourself a man. 3 Keep the charge of the Lord your God, [that is, fulfill your obligation to] walk in His ways, keep His statutes, His commandments, His precepts, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, so that you may succeed in everything that you do and wherever you turn, 4 so that the Lord may fulfill His promise concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons are careful regarding their way [of life], to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and mind and with all their soul, you shall not fail to have a man (descendant) on the throne of Israel.’” 1 Kings 2:1-4 AMP
You see, we learn the importance of synergy in the lives of the Kings of Israel. Specifically, King David and King Solomon. Never had their been such a momentous passing of the baton as when King David passed the torch to young King Solomon. A coronation so befitting of a king and bringing such magnanimous glory to God that you can feel the sheer awesome wonder and pleasure of the Lord. David’s journey ended successfully and his son firmly grabbed hold of the baton in a peaceful and glorious transition of power — bringing honor and glory to God. Though Solomons life didn’t end well as a result of his failure to heed the instructions and warnings of his father and of the Lord, the baton passed successfully. Gods Will isn’t that family lines have to start over at the same place with every generation, but that younger generations be trained and equipped in the ways of the Lord, receive from the many learned life lessons and wisdoms of those gone before, and continue on their own individual destiny partnered with legacy that they have inherited by virtue of inheritance.
Another place we learn about batons passing can be found in Proverbs.
“A good man leaves an inheritance [of moral stability and goodness] to his children’s children, and the wealth of the sinner [finds its way eventually] into the hands of the righteous, for whom it was laid up.”
Here we see, that it is a good thing to leave an inheritance behind for the next generation. Unlike the stigma that all too often is attached to those who inherit wealth, when trained, equipped, and prepared to steward the legacy left for you properly with moral stability and goodness, what’s inherited doesn’t rot the soul. Though its true that many who inherit wealth develop spoiled and entitled attitudes, it’s not all inheritors. To spoil is to infer all play no work and all ease with no training — to the giver of the inheritances error. As we learned with King Solomon, you can have immensely detailed training and still end sourly. From this we can gather the personal responsibility of the inheritor.
“When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required." ” Luke 12:48
So at the end of the day, both the giver and the inheritor has a responsibility. No one gets a free hand. Some start off with more in their hand than others, but both the giver of the legacy and inheritance and the receiver of the legacy and inheritance has a high price to pay. The one builds from scratch to give their legacy a robust start and the inheritor expounds upon it and further fortifies it for the sake of future generations. Both require great effort, intentionality, and fruitfulness in order to pass the baton successfully.
The wealth you’ve inherited may not be monitary, but it doesn’t mean you don’t have an inheritance. What moral courage, what strong character traits, what multigenerational stories have been passed down that must be maintained so that future generations don’t have to start learning all over again. We’ve all inherited something. Now go make it greater!
