Today’s Bible Reading: JUDGES 1:1-3:30
Judges 2:7, 10
And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. . . And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.
Accountability makes it easier to follow the Lord. To have someone who watches over us and walks with us helps in our spiritual journey. We consider their counsel; we are confronted by their criticisms and we are challenged to remove hindrances and remain faithful. Their voice helps us live victoriously. Their advice advances our walk.
Joshua and the elders had traveled with the people in the wilderness and had travailed with them to win the land. They taught them, they confronted them, and they held them accountable. As long as these leaders lived the people followed the Lord, but when they died so did the people’s devotion. With no spiritual leadership to direct them, their dedication ceased. They no longer heard Godly counsel. No one was left to confront their behavior or challenge their belief. So, they wandered off. They forgot the work that the Lord had done to deliver them and how He had fought for them to establish them. They became a generation lost. They didn’t know the Lord. They forsook Him. They turned to the gods around them. They followed the gods of the people among them. They worshipped them rather than Him. In one generation the Israelites became pagan.
Here is an admonition for us. Like them, we can lose a generation. We can let them slowly slip away from steadfast devotion to the Lord, leaving them to become worldly. It’s not difficult to do. First, we simply no longer instruct them in God’s word. We fail to teach them the truth of scripture. We provide them no spiritual foundation. Then they are left to formulate their own spiritual identity. We leave them to befriend the world and build a worldview based on worldliness. They become lost when the people of God choose their own direction and desires over disciplining and directing them according to divine revelation.
In addition to removing Biblical instruction, the removal of spiritual influencers advances the spiritual departure of a generation. When there are no strong spiritual leaders in their life who care about them, counsel them, challenge them and confront them they wander into worldliness. They need Godly influencers who can develop them into Godly individuals. We need to help the emerging “gens” to align themselves with committed Christlike believers and avoid cultural Christless Christians who will lead them to compromise their commitment and cave to culture. We need to help them to walk with those who walk with Jesus. We need to lead them to follow those who follow Christ. As they are led, they will follow.
We can stem the tide. We can change their course. It won’t be easy. The current culture is against us. It will demand all from us. It will drain everything from us. We must live out godliness and lead them to be godly. We must be faithful in the midst of a faithless generation. We must sincerely invest in them and spiritual instruct them. Our devotion to the Lord will be tried. Our dedication to Him will be tested. Our belief will be shaken and our behavior scrutinized. The enemy will tempt our resolve. The world will fight against our faithfulness.
We must rely on the Lord to walk alongside us to empower us and enable us to impact them. We can’t change a generation, but He can. We must cry out to Him to save them. We must call on Him to turn their hearts toward Him. We must beseech Him to protect them from the onslaught of self, society, and Satan. We must plead with the Lord to draw them to Himself so they won’t be drawn away. We must ask the Lord to place His word and His people in their lives to instruct and influence them. We don’t have to lose them. They don’t have to become a generation lost.
Today pray for the next generation. Pray that the Lord will move powerfully in and through you to live Godly and walk alongside them to be godly. Ask Him to help you to be a real and genuine Christlike example for the emerging generation to emulate.
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