Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Why Instruction is Given

Scripture: Psalm 78:5-6

For He established a testimony in Jacob And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children, That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and tell them to their children, 

Insights:  As we learned yesterday, God desires a relationship with His creation.  In fact, we were created for a relationship with Him.  His desire is not just for one individual or one generation of creation.  He desires a relationship with every single person and every person in every generation.  So, we can see from these verses that one of God’s predominant reasons for giving us instructions is for us to pass them on to younger people in order for them to know God as well.  This instruction covers the entire scope of training.  Obviously, it encompasses the gospel of salvation found in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.  It is, however, more than the majors that need to be taught.  These instructions even include the minors as well.  For example, Sunday, we had a nursery to “big church” promotion for our 4 year olds.  As parents of these new “big church” participants they need to train their children to use the restroom before church.  If the child acts up in church, these parents need to take the children out and discipline them, but not just stay out of the service.  They need to return and keep following that pattern until the child learns to behave in the service.  The rest of the church needs to be supportive and understanding to these parents because it can be very traumatic for some of them (both child and adult).  The list of instructions could go on and on, but the point is God has given us His Word to teach it to the next generation.  Beloved, we are not doing this well in my opinion and as a result we are losing a generation of future Christ-followers.  Draw the line in the sand right now and ask the Father for the strength to be a faithful instructor of God’s ways to the next generation. 

Questions:
  1. Whether you have children or not are you helping to pass on the instruction of the Lord to the next generation?
  2. Do you think that we as the church are doing a good job at passing on the instructions of the Lord to the next generation?
Prayer: Father, forgive me for where I have failed to instruct those younger than me.  Give me the grace and wisdom to be mindful of teaching moments You give to me to pass on the truth to future Christ-followers.  Amen.

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