It is every leader’s dream to see the legacy being passed on from generation to generation. This could be a father teaching his children the values of family, it could be a lecturer in a class passing on a new strategy to students or a local officer grooming the younger generation to carry on with the business of the church or a mother sharing Christian teachings with her children.
As God’s family we are also called to pass our faith on to the next generation…
As God’s family we are also called to pass our faith on to the next generation. Asaph’s Psalm carries this idea of passing the baton of faith to children who then teach their own about trusting God and to remember His great works as we read in Psalm 78:4-7 (NASB):
“We will not conceal them from their children but tell the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and his wondrous works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.”
In the home and the Corps, may the heart of this Psalm find room to breathe, as older believers pass their faith onto the next generation. When this beautiful vision is fleshed out, the fruit is evident in the text itself: the next generation will know God’s commands, they will set their hope in God, they will remember God’s works, they will obey Him, their hearts will remain steadfast, and their spirits will prove faithful to God. Is this not our prayer for young people today? As the older generation are we up for the challenge to teach and journey with those who follow us?
As the elders, you have a lot of wisdom and spiritual maturity that could help direct young people into their future. Yes, we do not have all the answers but we have access to the Holy Bible which has been our compass for years. Family worship and family discipleship within the Corps creates opportunities for older adults to pass their faith to the next generation, leaving a legacy of hope and trust in God.
It is important for all of us in the Corps, whether we are married or single, old or young, male or female, boy or girl, to understand and live out the Biblical teaching from Psalm 78: “That the next generation might put their hope in God.”
Leading teenagers and children to follow Jesus is not only a Biblical call, but it is also an incredible privilege. These youthful years are ripe for a spiritual harvest. Just as Asaph teaches the next generation about the greatness of God so that “they might set their hope in God”, we too can create opportunities for older believers to teach the next generation about the Lord and His Gospel so that they too might find their hope in Jesus Christ.