It's been a while since I've sent a 'C this late (cheers self quietly and pats self on back), but hopefully you'll allow me some grace since I've spent over thirty of the last 72 hours in a van. I spent today teaching my legs how to move again and have a new appreciation for sleeping horizontally as apposed to sitting straight up.
The theme of this year's ACR conference was "Generations." While there we heard lesson and message after lesson and message about people throughout the scriptures who had passed, or failed to pass, the teachings of God from generation to generation. We also witnessed first hand modern day men and women who have taught their children the ways of Christ, who then have taught their children and so on. We heard the power of following those teachings and the dangers of not, along with how quickly God's influence can become non-existent after merely one generation's negligence and slack.
The question I find myself pondering today is one I didn't hear addressed much this weekend, (perhaps that's because it was self evident or implied through the family focus) but is one a lot of us should make sure not to overlook with all this talk of generations.
Realizing I do not have children of my own, the idea of passing God's teachings about life in line with His will to the next generation takes on a bit different shape than it did for Abraham, David, Joseph, Noah, and the like. The good news is that I don't have to look far for a great example to follow: Jesus. He didn't have kids, yet is responsible for every generation between His death and our current existence for knowing the will of God. He simply made sure to teach and lead by example to any and all He interacted with, and especially to those twelve He invested His life into. A lack of offspring does not make any of us less responsible for the future of Christianity.
It's never a joyous thought to contemplate one's own death, but it can often provide much needed perspective. With that in mind, if you were to pass on this week, how would you have affected, directed, or helped create the next generation of disciples? Will God's will pass from you successfully onto others, or will you be part of the cause for a generation that lives Godless and void of the hope the salvation His Son gives?
A Christian's legacy has less to do with their individual accomplishments and everything to do with how they lived out God's own heart. It is through that lifestyle that normal men and women like you and I have gone on to affect the hearts and minds of countless lost souls. Let's pray for hearts of flesh for those we wish to pass along God's will to. Let's help raise up the next generation of Christians.
Brett "Whose head has ever gotten rest using a car's head rest?" Hibbler
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