The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children— with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

--Parallel verse:
Proverbs‬ ‭10:17
Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.

In life, we tend to look for effort to be rewarded. Not always, but most of the time. We work and receive money for our work. We invest and we expect a return. We educate ourselves, and we expect this to further our careers. And many times, this can work out. However, there are many times it does not. There are short-term rewards and longer-term rewards in life. However, when our life ends most these rewards end for us too. So many focus on what they can pass on to their children — money, things, jobs, etc.

Here, the psalmist talks about the fear of God. This fear is a reverence and weight of importance we recognize he has in our lives, rather than a fear that is scared of someone. And the questions we must ask are: What is it that I fear the most in this life? What gets the majority of my focus in regard to the space of time rented in my mind?

So we find here that if we 1) keep our covenant with God to follow Jesus, 2) obey his Word, and 3) place God in first place in the time and importance of our life, then we are blessed. And we are not just blessed in a temporary way, for our lifetime, but on to our children’s children. The blessing lives much beyond our lives. When we decide to swim counter-culture to this world and love radiantly in life; the love of God we display impacts not only people here and now, but it has a MULTI-GENERATIONAL IMPACT! We bless people we don’t even know, through our children and our grandchildren. So maybe you don’t have children? How does this apply to you? Paul didn’t have physical children, but he had spiritual children. And he experienced this same blessing. So who are our spiritual children today? Who can we invest in spiritually?

Lord, thank you for your Word, which helps me to see that the impact of a life lived in reverence and fear to you. Your love through me expands: wide … today, and long … throughout the generations after me. Why would I not embrace this type of impact in life?