Telling The Next Generation

Psalm 78:4 (ESV) … “We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.”

Of all the attitudes a parent can adopt, the worst surely is to say, as so many do: “I am not going to force religion on my children. I am going to let them make up their own minds when they are old enough.” So in the meantime, during their impressionable years, the world forces its views upon them; godless teachers and companions mold and fashion their tender minds and hearts. God holds parents accountable for the spiritual instruction of their children.

The father is to teach the son, the son is to teach the grandson, the grandson is to teach the great-grandson; truth is to be handed on diligently from generation to generation.

God recognizes no generation gap. The gap is bridged, age after age, by the diligent teaching of the Word of God. The result? “That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of GOD, but keep His commandments.” What God wants is a spiritual chain reaction. Truth my father held will become truth I hold, truth I hold will become truth my sons hold. But it is not truth I hold just because my father held it. It is truth I hold because it is true. It is truth I hold because it is the truth; I recognize it as the truth, and I pass it on as the truth. God has commanded this kind of instruction, and He will bless it.[1]

[1] Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring Psalms 1–88: An Expository Commentary (Vol. 1, Ps 78:4–7). Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp.