Monday, November 17, 2008

It's a Generation Thing

"One generation shall laud your works to another... they shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness, and shall sing aloud of your righteousness."
(Psalm 145:4, 7)

The psalmist writes about the importance of one generation witnessing to another generation about God. About God's works, goodness & righteousness, to name just a few. It's a generation thing. It's the responsibility of one generation to share the faith with another.

In the traditional sense, this occurs all the time in churches. Sunday School teachers tend to be "older generations" as compared to the children that are being taught. But I don't know if we see it as a generation thing, though? Kids can't teach themselves, so we plea for adults in the church to teach. But if we take Psalm 145 to heart... we can appeal to the responsibility of the collective faith of other generations!

Outside the church, however, I think we tend to gravitate toward similar generations. Meaning, we look to people our own age (or close to it) for guidance, inspiration, leadership & insight. That's fine, of course, but are we missing the gifts that other generations have to offer - both older and younger? Could it be that God is calling us to move outside the comfort zones of our own generation, to both give and receive God's witness?

PRAYER - Speak to me, Lord, through the testimony of other generations... and use me to encourage other generations to faith as well. AMEN.

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