Family Heritage

On July 4th I was given my soon-to-be-husband's great grandmother's ring along with a marriage proposal. After saying "yes", I had time to admire my beautiful ring. As a family heirloom, it represents the history of a family I will soon be a part of. I could not be more honored. The more I think about it, the more precious it becomes to me because it is a piece of their heritage, given to me as I prepare to join their family. This beautiful ring was taken care of and treasured and is now mine to treasure for future generations.

As I thought about an heirloom ring and its significance to a family, I began thinking about the heritage I want my family to have. I believe God always meant for His people to think about generations to come. Human beings can become so "me" focused and live so much for the moment with little thought about the future of their family. We can also become so zealous for evangelism that we forget to think about the spiritual heritage of our own families. What heritage do I want to leave for my children and their children's children? There is no greater treasure than that which God's people will receive as their reward in Heaven. And as I think about my family and the family I will soon be part of, I want nothing more than to insure that treasure for my children and generations to come. I seek multi-generational faithfulness.

Ps 71:17-18 O God, You have taught me from my youth and I still declare Your wondrous deeds. And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come.

This passage of Psalm 17 really sums up what I'm trying to say. Here is someone who was taught from his youth and still faithfully praises God. The declaration that even when he is old and gray he will declare God's strength and power to "this generation" and "to all who are to come" truly encourages me. This is a picture of multi-generational faithfulness to the glory of God.

In Paul's letters to Timothy we also see a picture of generational faithfulness. Timothy's grandmother and mother taught him to love God, and we see very clearly that they were successful in their desire to raise a faithful follower of Christ.

Ps 78:1-7 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. For He established a testimony in Jacob And appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children, 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.

Deut 4:9-10 "Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, 'Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.'"

God has always had a heart for the future generations of his people. His desire is for His people to love Him enough that they actively seek ways of insuring the faithfulness of their families until Christ returns. Salvation is a treasure above any other treasure. We have it. It is our responsibility to do everything in our power to safe guard it for future generations, just as my fiance's family took great care with his great grandmother's ring. It is our job to shift our focus from the treasures of this world to the treasures found in obedience to God and His Word. May we, as His people, seek what He seeks for our families- faithfulness for generations to come.

A Plentiful Harvest

Gal 6:9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

It is a time of great harvest in Bellvue, Colorado right now. The garden behind my house and the Pleasant Valley church building is full of yellow squash, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, okra, yellow squash, green beans, pumpkins, and tomatoes. But especially yellow squash. Every morning we walk out to the garden and pick from the bounty, and by the time we return to the garden in the afternoon there is even more to pick. We make stir fry and salad and zucchini bread and squash casserole and more squash casserole. We share with the church and friends in the community. And what's left gets placed on the picnic table at the church building with a sign practically begging passers-by to help themselves. The garden is a fun and practical way to build up our community, and to bless ourselves and others with the fruit of the earth.

As we collect basket after basket of garden goods, we're thankful. When we taste the first fried okra of the summer, or pull the first loaf of chocolate chip zucchini bread out of the oven, we barely remember the work that went into it. When the community garden share coordinator is amazed at the amount of yellow squash we bring in, we're proud.

However, when I think back to the plowing and the digging and the watering and the weeding, I realize the great effort that went into the garden. When we feel the need to pray that it will rain enough to relieve our watering duties for a day or two, the garden can seem like a great burden. When we''re sweating in full sun with dirt under our finger nails and sore backs but can STILL see endless weeds, we start to wonder why we bother. The challenge is to not grow weary, but to think of the great harvest later in the year. The challenge is to remember all the people who will be blessed by the bounty that will result from the hard work of planting and caring for a garden.

Spiritually, we become weary. Day in and day out we work. We teach and preach and study, praying that someone will hear and believe and act on their faith. We toil in God's Kingdom and we are often met with trials, suffering, and heart ache. We watch people fall away, often for trivial reasons. We listen as the world, and sometimes those who call themselves Christians, mock the Church- Christ's own bride. Sometimes it would be easy to give up. At one time or another, I'm sure that each Christian has asked themselves, "Why?" Why bother with the hard labor of daily bearing a cross? Why even try to live differently from the world, when it attacks our lifestyle at every angle? Why teach people who laugh, ignore, or walk away? Why bother challenging wrong doctrine when it seems never ending? Sometimes we can look up from our work and see that there is so much more to do, as we can look up from our weeding in a garden and see that there are so many more weeds to pull.

While a garden can fail, we still put much work into it and have faith that it will supply us with much fruit to enjoy and share. The good news for us as Christians is that if we continue with the work of God, we cannot fail. As Jesus was being beaten and mocked and spat on and hated, He could have given up. But he didn't. Why? Because Jesus knew the end result. He knew that through his anguish, a great harvest would be collected. He knew that through His pain He would enable people to return to their God. He knew that through His suffering, the Church would begin.

Gal 6:7-8a Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.

Whether we are sowing fleshly things or spiritual things, we are sowing something. With sowing comes work and with work comes weariness. When we're in the midst of hard spiritual labor, it may seem easier to just give it up. But when we do, we automatically begin fleshly labor which may seem easy for a time, but ends in a weariness full of corruption.

The hopeful end result of sowing a garden is a plentiful harvest of vegetables to share with friends and to enjoy as a family. As Christians, we KNOW the end result of our work:

Gal 6:8b But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Eternal life through the Spirit is our goal and the result of our sowing here upon this earth. Do not grow weary of doing good. Know that the harvest is plentiful and the end result is eternity with your God.