Tag: next generation

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Psalms Devotionals

Passing our faith on to the next generation

Psalms

This passage is a challenging one for me as a parent, especially, the first seven verses.

Here are questions I’m asking myself.

How often do I tell my daughter all the wonderful things God has done in my life? (Psalm 78:4)

How faithful am I to pass on to her the teachings God has given us in his Word? (5-6)

In my words and in my actions, do I teach her to put her confidence in God and obey him? (7)

Am I willing to share my failures with her so that she won’t make the same mistakes I have? (8)

Lord, help me to pass on these things to my daughter that she might know you, love you, and follow you.

Categories
Deuteronomy Devotionals

Our testimony to the next generation

Deuteronomy

There is so much in this passage that is worth talking about.

God warned the people, “Don’t take me and what I’ve done for you for granted. Don’t forget, especially when things are good in your life.” (Deuteronomy 6:10-13)

And “Don’t take a rebellious attitude toward me, questioning my love and loyalty to you.” (16)

But the thing I want to focus on is verse 20-24.

When your children, the next generation asks you, “Why do you follow God? Why do you do what he says,” what will you say?

What is your testimony of how God has worked in your life?

It’s good to think about these things.

For one thing, it helps us keep a heart of thanksgiving.

But for another, our kids, the next generation needs to know what God did for us.

They need to know that God is not just someone who did things 2000 years ago. They need to know God is alive and active today.

Do you share with your children and others of the next generation what God has done in your life?

For that matter, do you share with your friends, coworkers, and relatives all he has done for you?

What is your testimony?

Categories
Psalms Devotionals

Declaring God to the next generation

Psalms

As I was looking at Psalm 145 today, these words struck me.

One generation will declare your works to the next and will proclaim your mighty acts. (Psalm 145:4)

And then David seems to model what he said in the next few verses.

I will speak of your splendor and glorious majesty and your wondrous works.

They will proclaim the power of your awe-inspiring acts,

and I will declare your greatness.

They will give a testimony of your great goodness and will joyfully sing of your righteousness. (5-7)

The question is, who do “they” proclaim and give testimony to? To their own generation certainly. But also to the next. And by God’s grace, those who follow them will keep that cycle going.

They will speak of the glory of your kingdom and will declare your might, informing all people of your mighty acts and of the glorious splendor of your kingdom. (11-12)

May we be people that pass on what we know of God to our children and to all who come after us, that they may declare together with us,

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; your rule is for all generations. (13)

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Psalms Devotionals

Continually

Psalms

There are advantages to a more “literal” translation at times. And one of those advantages is that you can see repetition of words more clearly within the same passage.

This is one of those cases, and so I’ll be using the ESV for this particular post. (I must say, though, the CSB has really grown on me).

It strikes me that so often, we come to God by his grace, but after being saved by his grace, we then so quickly abandon it.

Perhaps abandon is too strong a word, but we do not continually make of practice of dwelling in it.

But look at what David says,

Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come. (Psalm 71:3)

My praise is continually of you. (6)

But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more. (14)

Even when he doesn’t use the word continually, similar words keep popping up.

My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all the day. (8)

My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is past my knowledge. (15)

And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long. (24)

Do I continually come before the Lord, trusting him to be my refuge? Or do I trust in my own wisdom and strength?

Do I continually put my hope in him? Or do I put it in money, financial security, or other such things?

Do I forget the grace he extends to me day by day? Or am I often reflecting on how every day his mercies are new every morning.

And is my mouth constantly filled with his praise because of what he has done for me. That for reasons I cannot grasp, he gave the command to save me. (3)

One more thing strikes me here.

So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come. (18)

I’m starting to get up there in age. Who in the next generation am I to proclaim God to so that they can know him as I do?

O God, do not let me leave this world until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

Categories
2 TImothy

To be a good teacher

2 Timothy

As I look at this passage, I am challenged as to the kind of teacher I should be.

What does it take to be a good teacher of the Word of God?

1. Pass on what you know.

Especially pass it on to the next generation of teachers after you.

You won’t be here forever. So make sure that the wisdom and knowledge God has given you doesn’t die with you. (2 Timothy 2:2)

2. Be faithful in your life and your teaching.

Don’t compromise either in the face of persecution or suffering.

Remember who your commanding officer is. Remember who you are trying to please.

You cannot please God if you are trying to please people. Too often, when we try to please people, we end up compromising our lives and our message. (3-4)

3. Work hard at your preaching.

Know the rules of interpreting scripture. Know how to rightly interpret God’s word and then present it in a way that people can understand.

And know that if you do so, you will reap the fruit of that in the changed lives of the people you teach. (5-6, 15)

4. Ponder over the words of God.

Don’t just gloss over them, thinking you already know what they mean. Meditate on them. And God will give you insight that you didn’t expect. (7)

5. Remember Jesus Christ in your messages.

Remember to make him the center of all that you teach. Keep the gospel that changes lives central to all that you say. (8-9)

6. Seek the salvation of those you teach.

Don’t just seek to win arguments. Seek to win souls.

Show people that you genuinely care about them, and don’t simply want to win an argument.

Correct people when they’re wrong, but with gentleness, praying that God may grant them repentance.

They are not the enemy. They themselves have been captured by the Enemy and God wants to set them free. (10, 24-26)

7. Don’t get involved in pointless arguments.

There are some arguments that generate a great deal of heat and very little light. Avoid them. (14, 23)

8. Flee from the false teaching that infects many churches today, teaching that would deny the Word of God and all it stands for.

That kind of teaching will spread quickly and infect all who hear it, destroying them. And you will be held responsible. (16-17)

9. Finally, be sure that you yourself are a clean vessel that God can use.

Flee impurity. More, pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace. (20-22)

How about you? What kind of teacher are you?

Categories
Psalms

Telling our story

Psalms

Somehow through my years as a Christian, the beauty of this psalm escaped me.  But the new NIV’s rendition, particularly verse 2 struck me and put it into a new light.  It reads,

Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story— those he redeemed… (Psalm 107:2)

And that’s what this psalm is about.  People whom God has redeemed sharing their stories with others and praising God for what he did for them.

The psalm starts out with a word of praise, one we see often in the psalms.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.  (1)

And the whole psalm shows just how he showed his goodness by redeeming us.

Some were wandering in desert wastelands, hungry, thirsty, and with no home.  But when they cried out to God, he heard them and led them to a place where they could settle in safety, providing them with food and drink to satisfy them.

Some of us were the same way.  Lost in our sin.  Hungering and thirsting for that which satisfies, but unsettled and unable to find peace.

But when we cried out to God, he reached down and led us out of the wilderness to a place of joy, peace, and contentment.

The psalmist then sings of those who were prisoners, in darkness because they had rebelled against God.  But they cried out to God and he delivered them and broke their chains.  Manasseh was an example of this.

Some of us found us in the same situation.  We had known God, but we willfully turned our backs on him, thinking we would find a life of freedom apart from God and pursuing the things of this world.

Only, in the end, we found that the things we thought would set us free, the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life, enslaved us instead.

But when we turned to him, he broke those chains and led us into true freedom.

Yet others experienced physical suffering through illness because of their sin.  But when they cried out to God, they found forgiveness and healing.

David experienced this if his psalms are to be taken literally and not figuratively.  (Psalm 30, 32, 38-39)

We too may have had times when God had to knock us on our backs to get our attention.  But once he had it, he was swift to show his mercy as well.

He then talks about those who got caught in a storm, and how when all hope was lost, God delivered them.  The story of Jonah comes to mind.

We too sometimes get caught up in the storms of life.  Sometimes through our own fault, and sometimes through the fault of others.  But when we cried out to God, we saw his deliverance.

For others, they saw the times in the desert and God’s provision, and they saw God’s leading into the promised land, only to forget what God had done for them and watching all that they had gained be lost because of their sin.

The whole history of Israel was that way.

But when they turned back to God, he restored them once again to their own land and renewed his blessing upon them.

Some of us have had the same experience.  Seeing God’s blessing through the deserts of our lives, only to forget him when things became good, and as a result losing everything.

But despite this, God showed his mercy to us and restored us.

So what should our response to all this be?

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind.  (15, 21, 31)

And let us pass on our stories to the next generation, that they may

heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord.  (43)

Categories
Psalms

Telling the next generation

Psalms

For my daughter’s last birthday, we bought her a children’s Bible.  What’s nice is that it’s in English and Japanese, so my wife reads to her in Japanese, and I read to her in English.

It’s our hope that through these stories, she can come to not just know about God, but to truly know him.

That’s what the psalmist is trying to do in this psalm.  To pass on to the next generation what he knew about God.

He says,

My people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth with a parable;
I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
things we have heard and known,
things our ancestors have told us.

We will not hide them from their descendants;
we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders he has done.  (Psalm 78:1-4)

He then reminds the people that God himself commanded us to do this for our children.  The reason for this command?

So the next generation would know them (God’s deeds and his laws), even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.

Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.  (6-7)

Asaph starts by talking about the deeds of God, how he delivered them out of Egypt and led them through the desert, providing for their every need.  How he provided bread, water, and meat in the desert when there was none to be found.

He then talks about how God led them into the promised land and drove out all their enemies before them.

But then he talked about all the failures of the people.  How they failed to trust him.  How they complained in the desert.  How they turned to idols in the land God gave to them, and how they suffered judgment because of it.

Finally he reminds them of God’s grace and mercy through all their failures.  He sings,

Yet he was merciful;
he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them.

Time after time he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath.

He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breeze that does not return.  (38-39)

And he reminds them of how in his grace, God defeated their enemies once again and set up David to rule over them in justice.

These are the kinds of things we are to teach our children.  To the people who come after us.

  • Teach them about how God saved us from our sin, and all the things he has done for us in our lives.
  • Teach them about our failures, and the consequences that came from them.  Why?  So that they don’t have to repeat our mistakes.
  • Teach them about God’s grace and mercy.  That though we failed, God never gave up on us but forgave us and delivered us.
  • Teach them that God has a plan for them.  Just as he took David from the humble position of shepherd, and turned him into the shepherd of God’s people, God can take their lives and turn it into something special too.

Let us not neglect to tell our children these things that they may know him too.