My one-word answer might be: VERY.
In particular, I am thinking about people who in some way attempt to pass on the word of God to another generation. Preachers. Parents. Bible School teachers. Again, I am thinking about anyone who is attempting to pass on the story of God to another generation.
When I first began began preaching, I recall hearing people at times refer to someone as "knowing the truth." Someone made a reference to his son and said, "I don’t understand this boy, he knows the truth." Meanwhile someone else said regarding the importance of knowing Scripture, "We need to make sure that our kids know the truth." Nothing wrong with such language.
Yet, I would not want to leave the impression that communicating information about the Bible or from the Bible is sufficient. Passing on our faith is more than telling people about the Bible or even facts about God. The manner in which I communicate my faith is important as well.
What I want to focus on for a moment is the way we sometimes pass on matters of faith.
- What if I communicate the word of God in a fashion that communicates indifference?
- What if I communicate a sort of deadness in my life that suggests that I am just going through the motions?
- What if my children notice that when things of faith are being discussed I appear bored and disconnected?
- What if my teaching/preaching appears to have very little passion?
This week, I have been reading Psalm 145. Verse four is interesting. Listen to this verse in four different English translations:
One generation shall laud your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. (NRSV)
One generation shall commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. (NIV)
Generation after generation stands in awe of your work; each one tells stories of your mighty acts. (The Message)
One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. (NASV)
Notice these words. This text is not simply asking us to communicate the word of God to another generation. Rather, the idea is to communicate that we laud or praise the God of the Scriptures. We communicate what he has done, praising him for who he is. The next generation sees that we love God, that we exalt him, and that he has impacted our lives in a very significant way.
Do you recall a time when you heard someone talk about the things of God but the person seemed indifferent to what he was saying? Have you ever been around a person who was passionate about God in a way that was attractive and not repelling?
I think you are touching on a very important subject here. There is so much more to the christian life than knowing facts about the bible and believing the right things. Praise is a part of that. But even praise falls flat if the lives we are living don’t reflect the God we praise.
I want my children to love God and praise him. I want them to love others – to actively seek to build relationships with people unlike them and desire to meet the needs of others in our community. I want them to care about whether they are living in harmony with creation – to understand their impact on the world we live in and to love others through good stewardship. And I want them to find a community of others that share their values, a safe place to ask questions and explore the doubts all of us have but few of us vocalize.
Those are the things I think about when I think about passing on my faith to my children.
There are more than a few web sites and publications, not to mention, pulpits that exemplify proclamation and performance that do not match.
I would distinguish between those who are passionate about their faith/walk with Christ, and those who are obsessive. The latter category are the ones that turn me off and most others I know. I think of some folks I know, some by books and others in person….the passionate calls to mind Dallas Willard and Richard Foster, Oswald Chambers…people that when I read their work can tell that they have been with God and that is where their passion is coming from. Those who are obsessive, their "passion" comes from knowing truth or understanding a text or finding out the "right" way to do something. Sometimes this is really subtle, but man, it sure makes a difference.
i think that you make a good point.
Jen,I like the distinction you make between passionate and obsessive. It seems that people who are really passionate for God (in the best sense of that word) are formed into attractive and winsome people not obnoxious people.
Mark,You are right. There is a lot more about passing on the faith that what is contained in this Psalm. I do think that some of us might look at the words of this Psalm and consider how we are communicating what we say we believe.