How to Bless the Younger Generation

(March Message in the Grapevine)

Many years ago, a small Jewish boy asked his father, “Why must we surrender our Jewish faith & start to attend Lutheran services here in Germany?”  The boy’s father replied, “Son, we must abandon our faith so that people will accept us & support our business adventures!”

That young boy held on to his disappointment & bitterness for the rest of his life because his family abandoned their faith.  His faith in both his father & religion were crushed.  When this boy left Germany, he went to England to study, & he formed unique philosophies for his own life.  From those theories, that boy, Karl Marx, wrote a book that changed the world, The Communist Manifesto.  For 70 years, billions of people fell under the spell of his Marxist ideology.  The hypocritical influence of that little boy’s father produced tragic consequences.

If the young people of our world do not receive godly faith & training from older believers, then they will develop distorted perspectives as well.  As a believer, you & I have the responsibility of spiritually parenting others to follow Christ, serve Him faithfully, & do great things for His Kingdom.

Paul referred to Titus as “my true son in our common faith” (Titus 1:4) & Timothy as “my true son in the faith” (1 Tim.1:2).  Though they were not flesh & blood, they bonded together as family & Paul raised them up to follow the Lord.

If you know a young person who needs a faith-filled believer in his or her life, then pray with & for them, & seek to teach them a love for Scripture, a commitment to Jesus Christ, & to fellowship & worship with the church.  Ask the Lord to bring a young person into your life whom you can spiritually mentor & parent.                                 Senior Living Ministry Devotionals

Psalm 71:17-18 “Since my youth, God, you have taught me, & to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.  Even when I am old & gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.”