From One Generation to the Next
Ray and I were born between 1946 and 1964, which means that we are Baby Boomers. Our son was born near the end of Generation X, the generation born between 1965 and 1980. Our daughters were born near the beginning of the Millennials’ generation whose members were born from 1981 to 1996. Our oldest grandchildren were born near the end of Generation Z, which is the label for those born between 1997 and 2012. Most of our grandchildren are members of the Alpha Generation who were born beginning in 2013.
We are one family made up of what the world labels as five different generations. Your family is also made up of more than one generation. How does God want multi-generational families to interact with one another?
One interaction that is near to God’s heart is this: He wants the hearts of each member to be turned to one another. In the last book of the Old Testament, God foretold the work of John the Baptist. God said:
“He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”
Malachi 4:6
We are preparing for the season when we celebrate the birth of Jesus our Savior. Among the many events leading up to that miraculous, world-changing one was the birth of John the Baptist six months earlier. The gospel of Luke begins with the angel Gabriel coming to the priest Zacharias while he was serving in the Temple.
The Angel Appearing to Zacharias by William Blake, 1799-1800
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Bequest of William Church Osborn, 1951
Gabriel came to tell this elderly man the wonderful news that his elderly and barren wife would give birth to a baby. The angel told Zacharias:
“And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Luke 1:17
God also wants the older generation to teach the younger generation the very most important things. Psalm 78 powerfully summarizes what older generations must teach younger ones.
- We must pass on what we have heard and known that our fathers told us.
- We must not conceal the important lessons from our children.
- We must use our lips to tell the generation to come the praises, strength, and wondrous works of the Lord.
- We have a responsibility to future generations so that they will know what God wants from them — even the children yet to be born.
- We must teach so that our children can arise and teach their children.
- We must teach our children to put their confidence in God, teach them not forget His works, and teach them to keep His commandments.
- All our generations must prepare our hearts, and our spirits must be faithful to God.
Listen, O my people, to my instruction;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,
Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
We will not conceal them from their children,
But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.
We will not conceal them from their children,
But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.
That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born,
That they may arise and tell them to their children,
That they should put their confidence in God
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments,
And not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not prepare its heart
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
Psalm 78:1-8