| “Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.” |
| —Joel 1:3 |
Nearly everyone has played the “Game of Telephone.” A simple phrase gets secretly passed from one person to another until the last person proclaims it aloud. To the enjoyment of everyone, the secret phrase has often drastically changed from the original whisperer. The game seems more fun, the more outrageous the change.
When the Gospel of our Lord passes from one generation to another, we should aim at accuracy above all else. We all know people who come from a long line of faithful Christians, but who may have heard a twist to the story that changed them into doubters or cynics of the faith, or even deserters from the faith. Other voices get into the “Game.” In fact, one who sows lies joins the circle and, before long, what the the last “hearer” receives completely disavows the truth of the original message.
How do we keep the children of this generation from those who would try to influence them away from the Truth of the written Word of God? Parents can’t always prevent their children from hearing wrong voices. However, if they have carefully orchestrated whom their children hear the most, and find ways to introduce them to winsome Christian friends, this generation can carry on the faithful truths of our great Christ-centered heritage.
When I taught elementary music, folk songs became the “fodder” of my curriculum. Not only did they supply the musical elements I taught, they also provided students with the “mother tongue” of their heritage as Americans. Scripture is the “mother tongue” of our Christian heritage. Our children need to hear faithful preaching and faithful teaching. They need to know faithful Christians in the church and observe their lives of service and devotion to Christ and His Kingdom.
Children need to see and hear people who have made the Christian life a firm foundation for their personal lives and whose devotion they can emulate. They need to learn the songs and hymns of their Christian heritage.
At the end of Moses’ life, recorded in Deuteronomy 31, he wrote a song and instructed the Israelites to teach it and sing it as a testimony of God’s work. Similarly, Psalm 78:1-6 speaks of writing parables to teach the next generation. Excerpts of those verses say:
I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old … We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord … he commanded our forefathers to teach their children so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.
Not only has God given us the means to teach the next generation, He can give us the courage, wisdom, grace, and all that we need in order to do so. Let us pray for this generation of children and for those who not only begin with the message of Christ, but carry it on throughout their lifetimes.
