Passing Down our Passion
November 3, 2011
The other day my wife and I went to Grandparents’ Day at our grandchildren’s Christian school. We enjoyed visiting their classrooms, meeting their teachers and observing their work.
During the service honoring grandparents the speaker, a Baptist pastor, emphasized how grandparents have the awesome responsibility and privilege of passing down their values to their grandchildren, both by what they say and what they do.
I ticked off in my mind the various areas in which I was trying to pass along my values to my grandchildren. Among other topics I thought about missions.
First, do I really share God’s passion for reaching the lost? There are billions in China and India and Latin America and Africa and other lands who still don’t know Jesus loves them. There are people in draught-prone areas starving to death and without water to drink. Millions of Christians daily face persecution. Around the world desperate people are dying, without hope, without Jesus. Today. Tomorrow. Every day. How much do I care?
Second, how much of God’s passion am I really passing on to my children and grandchildren?
Around the dinner table when we are together do I discuss missions or missionaries or the need for taking the gospel around the world? Do I make a point of getting to know the missionaries from my area? Do I make an effort to introduce my grandchildren to these missionaries, or at least take them to missionary meetings where they can listen to their stories and get to know their hearts? Do they know I support missionaries on a regular basis and give to missionaries when they come to my church? Do they hear me pray for our missionaries? Do they hear me honor them as heroes?
The Great Commission of going into all the world to preach the gospel is so important to God that, among other biblical passages, He inserted this command in all four Gospels and the Book of Acts. (See Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8.)
Let’s make sure we personally share God’s passion for the lost. Then, let’s pass along that passion to our children, grandchildren, relatives, friends and others within our circle of influence.
Let’s get started today, even before the sun sets.
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