The Younger Generation, Joshua 2:10.

Everyone complains about the younger generation.  “Kids today,” people say, as if that is a complete sentence.  They’re on their phones too much. They watch TV too much. They play too much. They don’t take school seriously.  The complaints go on and on.  Guess who said the following:

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect for elders and love to stand around talking rather than exercise. Children are tyrants, not servants in the home. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. The contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up good food at the table, and tyrannize their teachers.”

Who stated the above?

(a) George Washington

(b) Ronald Reagan

(c) Bill Clinton

(d) William Shakespeare

(e) Socrates.

It was Socrates, speaking 400 years before Christ.  The younger generation is always bad—just as the good old days are always good.

Yep, kids are outta’ control.  But what can be done? Whether manners, morals, reading, or religion—if you want kids to care about something, you must TEACH them to care about it.   After Israel moved into the Promised Land, a new generation “rose up who did not know the Lord or the works He had done for Israel” Joshua 2:10. 

WHAT?!  How does that happen?  Why do young people fall away?  Because parents fail to teach them to love the Lord.  Or more likely, parents TALK about loving the Lord, but their lives—their choices—teach a different message.  Still, it boggles my mind.  Adam and Eve walked with God—imperfectly, to be sure. But later generations fell away.  Noah walked with God, but today’s world is filled with godlessness.  Even Israel, delivered from Egypt through a succession of amazing miracles, fell away.  How could that happen?  Children make will make their own choices to be sure—and there is grace for parents who do their best.  But I’m afraid some just can’t be bothered.  Who has time for church commitments when there are club teams for kids and golf for mom and dad?

Nothing is more important than passing the gift of faith to the next generation.  Dear God, don’t let us fail at the most important part of parenting!

ΑΩ