I'm thankful our daughter, Carolyn, who became a strong Christian as an adult, was ready to go to heaven when cancer took her at age 31.
If Jesus tarries his Second coming, will the church be around in the decades ahead for our children and grandchildren?
Christians are concerned. Nearly every family has a child or
grandchild who isn’t serving God despite being raised in a Christian home and
the church.
When I worked as a newspaper reporter, I asked the late general
superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Thomas F. Zimmerman, whether he
believed if Jesus doesn’t return in this generation whether he thought the
church would survive.
“It will survive,” he said, “but the next generation won’t do
church like we do.”
The music changed. Churches developed satellite congregations. We have podcasts, and numerous other advances from modern technology. Thank God all
my children and grandchildren know the Lord, are involved, and despite changes, God is still
working.
But still, statistics show a large percentage of youth leave
the church during or after college.
What can we do?
I worked with youth the
majority of my life, and despite being a senior citizen now, I watch non-Christian youth with a heavy heart. Ultimately
it is each young person’s decision, but the church is supposed to be salt and
light which causes people to seek the Lord. Jesus still stands at the door and
knocks—but he’s not going to crash through and enter without being invited.
So,
with that in mind, we can:
1. LIVE THE WORD
How we’re supposed to live
was summarized for us by Jesus: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your strength
and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself
" (Luke
10:26-28).
If we do this, we model our faith. It’s not
easy.
The first four of the Ten Commandments
have to do with serving and respecting God. The last six have to do with how we
treat our neighbor.
I can’t forget, however it
is, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us, by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing of the
Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:4-6)
Nevertheless, if I love God
as Jesus told me to, I’ll talk to Him, read His words, be in His presence, obey
Him, and work in His kingdom.
Much hinges on the fruit we
produce and walking in the Spirit.
The Apostle Paul told the Galatians, “Walk in the Spirit, and you
will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. The acts of the sinful
nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions,
factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did
before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
2. SHARE THE WORD AND YOUR TESTIMONY
Why
are you a Christian?
Your
children and grandchildren should hear your testimony. Did God change your
life? Give you something to live for? Fill the emptiness inside you? Given you
joy unspeakable and full of glory? Has he healed you or given miracles for your
family?
God
reminded sometimes reminded people to be sure to tell their children about
God’s miraculous works.
Read about it in Joshua 4, which tells how God parted the
Jordan River similar to how he parted the Red Sea and Israel crossed. The Lord
told them to gather stones and build a memorial about the miracle.
“This
may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What
do these stones mean to you?’ Then
you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark
of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the
Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children
of Israel forever.”
“What do these stones mean?” I’m fortunate
because I’m a writer and I’ve been sharing my testimony since my youth. My
children have read some of it, and today if I write something in which they
could be interested, I send it to them. Often they comment that they enjoy it.
You might be surprised at your family’s reaction.
3.
BELIEVE THE WORD We have specific promises for our children.
“Raise up a child in the way he should go.
Even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6NASB).
God's Word will make a lasting impression on our children's lives.
“As
the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without
watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for
the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve
the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55: 9-11). (If you’ve taken your kids
to church, or had devotions at home, this promise if for you.)
And we can claim the promises from the Word that says our children can choose to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which has many benefits:
And we can claim the promises from the Word that says our children can choose to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which has many benefits:
A prophecy by Peter on the day of Pentecost: “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:38-40).
4. TAKE YOUR FAMILY TO CHURCH “Let us consider one another
in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so
much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
If you make the Lord and meeting in
His presence the center of your lives, it makes a difference in families.
Children learn the Word, doctrine, to obey their parents, and they make best
friends who also want to follow the Lord. The church usually provides good
clean fun, too. This gives children the opportunity to accept Jesus as Savior,
discover that God loves them no matter what and has a plan for their lives. Children
faithful in God’s house usually also choose Christian mates.
5.
PRAY AND BELIEVE The Bible is filled with promises and
testimonies that state God answers prayer. Paul, under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, told the jailer who wanted to become a Christian, “Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16).
©Ada Brownell June 2013
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