July 1, 2023

Judges 2: 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the Lord to anger. (NIV)

The home needs to be the center of faith formation for our youth.*

For the first twelve years of my life, I attended church with my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins galore. I have a lot of good memories of Christmas plays, Easter egg hunts, potluck dinners, and VBS. But that was a long time ago and there is no reason for me to expect my children to share in my nostalgia for those good old days. That congregation is part of their heritage but not part of their memory.

In this passage, we read about the “spiritual amnesia”* of the people who were a generation removed from the Israelites who took possession of the Promised Land – and two generations from those who were led out of Egypt. There is no shame in their having no memory of the plagues and miracles of those long-ago days - because they weren’t there when they happened. They hadn’t been born yet! But shame on the parents who allowed themselves and their families to be absorbed into the culture around them and failed to teach their children to worship God.

If one generation neglects to set an example of worship and obedience, the next generation may forsake the Lord and provoke him to anger. My kids do not sing the same songs that I sang. My grandchildren may never know the joy of attending church every week with their extended family. The traditions of my past are not so important to the next generation, but the gospel is. The truth that was taught in my Sunday School classes and preached from the pulpit should never become part of a forgotten heritage. 

Many parents deserve hell on their children's account, because they neglect to train them in piety.*