The image we often have of God – a grandfatherly figure with long white beard – is decidedly wrong. It is true what they say – “God has no grandchildren.” Therefore, God is not a grandfather to anyone. Rather, He is more like a young dad – dark hair and cleanly shaven! – who loves doting on his little children.

Why do I say that? Because EVERY generation has to experience this God afresh and become His children in their lifetime. In the Book of Judges, we see that Israelites repeat this process over and over – 1) They forget God, 2) They suffer because of it, 3) They cry out to God, 4) God rescues them, 5) They are at peace for one generation, 6) The next generation forgets God…

I used to blame the Israelites for not educating their next generation as not to fall away from the Lord, and so the remedy would be to educate our children well. However, I realize now that this might be describing human nature and the fact that EVERY generation has to experience God and know Him themselves. They have to experience God’s deliverance on their own lives apart from their parents’ faith. In other words, we CANNOT inherit faith from our parents. And if we are parents, we cannot give our faith to our children as inheritance. They must encounter God themselves and the faith must become theirs.

In the judgement day, it won’t do any good for us to say, “God, my dad was a pastor and I grew up in a church all my life and therefore, I should get into heaven.” God will say, “Your dad I know as my child, but who are you?”

Two applications: 1) If you grew up in a Christian home and church, don’t think God will accept you based on that. You must experience Jesus as an individual to be God’s child. 2) If you are a Christian parent, pray and pray for your children’s salvation! You can influence them to a certain degree, but in the end, it’s between God and them. Pray far more for their salvation than for their success in the world.

PH