A goodly heritage
A goodly heritage. The Psalmist David ‘coined’ this phrase in describing his inheritance in Psalm 16:6: “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” David was expressing delight his inheritance ‘fell’ in a desirable portion of the land. He considered what had been passed down to him a tremendous blessing.
The very mention of the word ‘heritage’ invokes thoughts of inheritance, legacy, tradition… it represents something passed down and transferred from one generation to another; a gift! The recipient has no control over what is received from the previous generation, only the power to preserve, protect and enhance the gift.
Like David, I too am abundantly blessed to have received a ‘goodly heritage’. I am blessed to trace my spiritual lineage to R.D. Whalen, my ‘father in the gospel’, who has served as my shepherd for nearly all of my life. R.D. Whalen traces his spiritual roots to the late W.T. Witherspoon, his ‘father in the gospel’, and my ‘grandfather in the gospel’. W.T. Witherspoon was a pioneer who served as the first Assistant General Superintendent of the UPCI following the merger in 1945. Both of these men were men of renown, men who were ‘head and shoulders’ above their peers in integrity, faith and leadership, and were considered ‘spiritual giants’ of their respective generations. They were men who loved the truth of this message and willingly defended it no matter the cost. That being said, I am tremendously honored my spiritual genealogy is traced through their names and includes their spiritual DNA. I stand on the shoulders of giants.
What about you, what kind of heritage have you inherited? Who is your spiritual father? What has been passed down to you in your spiritual DNA? We all have much for which to be thankful. God has tremendously blessed all of us with an outstanding heritage. Great men and women have gone before us and paid the price to enable us to receive a goodly heritage.
David’s challenge in his generation and our challenge today regarding our heritage is two-fold: first, to reflect on our past and honor our elders who got us here; and second, to accept the challenge for our generation to preserve, protect and enhance our heritage so it can be passed down to the future generations.
This challenge is expressed in Psalm 78:4-6: “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:”
Thank you Jesus for the goodly heritage passed down from our forefathers! Help us accept the challenge and responsibility to preserve our heritage and protect our doctrine and distinctions as Apostolic Pentecostals so the generations to come may know. We have a mandate to build a bridge between our generation and future generations.
THE BRIDGE BUILDER
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim-
That sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned, when he reached the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim near,
"You are wasting strength in building here.
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way.
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head.
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him."
- by Will Allen Dromgoole
