Collinsville School Devotional

Generation to Generation

Within the Scriptures we see a core teaching that, unfortunately, too many churches have forsaken for far too long. That teaching is this- older generations, pour into the younger generations. Teach them the truths of your fathers, that they may one day teach them to their children. Unfortunately, as someone who has been in NextGen ministries for nearly 10 years, I can tell you that many churches in this world have relegated youth and children’s ministry to little more than babysitting. We draw them in, we report the numbers so it’ll look good; then we remove them from the “real” church, fill them up with sugar, play some “Christian” video that, if we’re totally honest, is essentially just brainrot that mentions about Jesus, we show them flashy videos and teach them cool dances to songs that aren’t worship songs, we tell them that Jesus loves them, and then their parents pick them up when real church is over. However, the church is called to so much more than this. God teaches us through His word the importance of training up our children. If we were to look to the end of the book of Joshua and the beginning of the book of Judges, we would see a sad moment where the people are told to carry on this teaching, and then immediately did not. Judges 2:10 tell us that as the generation died out, there arose a generation who did not know the LORD. They had not been teaching their children, and their children did not know the LORD.

You may be asking yourself, “this guy knows he’s in a school, right? We aren’t in a Sunday School training or something…” And yes, I do in fact know that. I also know that loving Jesus isn’t the only important thing that we are to pass on to the next generation. You see, whether you realize it or not, what you are doing each and every day, is fulfilling a part of God’s plan- pouring into the next generation. You are the ones teaching them to read, without which they cannot approach this text for themselves. You are the ones teaching them reading comprehension, critical thinking, problem-solving, without which they can easily be led astray. You are teaching them how to interact with the world and each other, skills which without they won’t be able to fulfill the great commission. You are teaching them about the world, how it works, and the intricacies of science, without which they will not be able to see and appreciate the majesty of the God who created all things. You are teaching them life skills and job skills that they will be able to use to minister to the world.

If you go to the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and tell them that you are a teenager who feels like they are being called to go on the mission field after school, do you know what they will tell you to do? Have marketable skills. Did you know that London is hostile towards the spread of the Gospel? If you flew to London tomorrow, and they found out that you were there to tell people about Jesus, they would immediately send you back to the country from which you came. They won’t imprison you, but they won’t let you into the country. So, the IMB advises people to have marketable skills. Become a nurse, for the glory of God, that you may be able to move to another country and tell people about Jesus between shifts at the hospital. Become a baseball coach, and move to Honduras to teach and coach guys in baseball, and have a bible study with them each day at practice. Become a journalist, travel the world reporting on world events, and evangelize locals between shoots.

The same applies to domestic missions. Go sell cars at Sam Boswell Honda in Gadsden, and tell the people you’re selling cars to about Jesus. Go work at Piggly Wiggly and tell people how much Jesus loves them. Go work at a garage rotating tires, and pray over every car you work on, that the driver would be safe, and saved. You may not be providing religious education to these children, but by equipping them for life in this world, you are helping to open doors for them to be able to live on mission for God. Teaching is a sacred calling, as you are giving of yourself to care for the next generation. My prayer for you is that as you go through this year, the good days and the bad days, the students you love and the students you hate (because let’s not lie here; there are kids we hate, whose occasional absence brightens our day a little bit), days when you feel energized and on cloud nine and days when you are doing everything to keep your head above water, remember that God has a plan for each of you, and he has a plan for each of those students, and he has put each student exactly where they need to be in order to grow. So don’t lose heart, for your job is one that is so much more important than so many people in this world realize.