Bring It Up

 

We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. Psalm 78:4

 

 

My Pastor: I bet your grandchildren love your testimony.  Me: I don’t know. They haven’t heard it.

My older ‘grands” are not little babies, they are seven and ten. They would understand my testimony.

Why haven’t I told them? It hasn’t come up.

Shortly after this brief conversation with my Pastor, I read the verse from Psalm 78 (at the top).

I grew up in a home that taught that your faith is a personal thing, meaning “keep it to yourself.” This is false teaching and I am without excuse for my failure to give my testimony to my grandchildren,

How many of us have this false understanding? To be faithful to God, we are responsible to “tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD.”

This is not just talking about our own children. It’s saying that the glorious deeds of the Lord, His might, and the wonders He has done, are things we should be intentional about passing on.

In context, it is a command to pass on what “we have heard from our fathers” about the LORD. We are one of God’s tools to build His kingdom.

Sadly, not everyone is prepared to hear the Message.

When we tell our testimonies, Ephesians 4:29 reminds us that we are to build one another up, as fits the occasion so that it gives grace to the one who hears.

Grace is not always what our culture considers “nice.”

Sometimes, grace is the truth, given in a way that challenges someone, an unbeliever or a believer who’s in sin, to look at her own attitude or behavior, along with an explanation of what God’s Word says about it.

Our testimony may challenge or convict another person – even our children and grandchildren.

That’s not always considered “nice” because it may be hard for someone to hear that what she is doing is sin in the eyes of God. But, it may be the thing that draws that child to the Lord, to seek salvation.

We never know where God is at work. If he has prepared a heart that we are to speak to – what a legacy we’ll leave for that child (or neighbor) when we are faithful to God’s Word.

(Remember that His Word also says to get the log out of our own eye before we go after the speck in someone else’s.)

So, do the next generation(s) of your family know the glorious deeds God has done in your life?

If you’re like me and it has not come up…bring it up!