Passing on our faith

So often we focus more on our areas of disagreement than we do agreement. This is true in so many areas of our life, including our faith. When parents and teenagers have arguments, it is often a result of focusing on the areas where they don’t see eye to eye.

One of the things I have learned is that when we sit around and talk, we tend to focus on differences, but when we serve alongside each other, we are more likely to focus on our areas of agreement.

As I look back on the words of Scripture and God’s wisdom, I find that passing on our faith to the next generation requires words and action. Consider the words Moses spoke to the people of God…

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. (Deuteronomy 6:1-3)

Carefully reread what Moses said in the middle of this passage: “…so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you…” The way to pass on faith is by living out your faith. Faith is not primarily exclusively a set of ideas to teach; it is a way of life. If we are going to pass on our faith to the next generation, we must live it out.

There are significant implications for this. If we are going to teach our children how to live out their faith, we must begin by examining how we live out our faith, not how they live out theirs. Of course, offering advice and correction to the younger generation is a vital part of our role as parents and teachers, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that they will first and foremost learn from our actions, not our words.

I believe that one of the biggest challenges every generation faces in passing on their faith is modeling what it means to be a follower of Christ. It can be easy for us to tell someone else how they should live. The more difficult aspect of passing on our faith is living it out so it can be witnessed by others.

This will require everyone to practice an extra measure of grace and humility. Grace to extend towards others when they fall short and humility to acknowledge when we fall short. If we can embrace grace and humility with an attitude of love, then faith can be passed on from generation to generation in way that can extend the Kingdom of God until Christ returns.

 

shine!
Jason