Following After

     Listen, dear friends, to God’s truth, bend your ears to what I tell you. I’m chewing on the morsel of a proverb; I’ll let you in on the sweet old truths, stories we heard from our fathers, counsel we learned at our mother’s knee. We’re not keeping this to ourselves, we’re passing it along to the next generation - God’s fame and fortune, the marvelous things he has done.
     He planted a witness in Jacob, set his Word firmly in Israel, then commanded our parents to teach to their children so the next generation would know, and all the generations to come - Know the truth and tell the stories so their children can trust in God, never forget the works of God but keep his commands to the letter.
Psalm 78:1-7 The Message

I've been reminiscing for the last 10 days or so. Another of my friends passed away and his service was this evening. He was about 15 years older than me and we swapped stories for several days in the last two weeks of his life. I thought I knew quite a bit about him, but I found out tonight, I'd only discovered just below the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. I knew he'd had a full life, a faithful wife who preceded him in death who he loved until HIS last breath, and that his was an intentional life. He lived with purpose.

His one concern was that perhaps he had not left a path clear enough for his daughter and granddaughter to see their way to Jesus. I told him if that path - however short or long - led him to Christ then it was clear enough for them to see and we prayed that their eyes and hearts would be wide open to see what God had for them.

We must be intentional about teaching our next generations about Jesus. We cannot leave it to this world to teach them. We must lead the way for those who are watching where we're going. Judges 2:7 tells us, And the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him—those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. Then Joshua died and they buried him and in verse 10 we read, After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. One generation was all it took and they were separated from God - doing evil in His sight. 

So, the question is, are we following after that which will cause those who are following after us to follow after Christ?

Prayer:

Father,

           Forgive us for ever misstep we have made along the way. According to Your Word, please make straight the way and plain the path so that we can leave good imprints as we follow You and our generations follow after. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen