PSALM 78:4…6-7:
We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders… So that the next generation might know them— even the children not yet born— and they in turn will teach their own children. So, each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.
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Those verses are about passing on the faith to the next generation. Even though the words were written three thousand years ago, that has been the challenge of every generation since then, and it is our challenge today.
A highly publicized survey of the religious beliefs of the American people revealed that the fastest growing group in America is not the Catholics and not the Lutherans and not the Muslims, but the fastest growing segment of the population is the ‘nones,’ as in ‘no’ religious affiliation at all. For many of them, there is no belief in anything beyond what we can see and hear in this brief life on this little planet.
Psalm 78 says we should not hide ‘these truths’ from our children, but tell them about God, so that they too can set their hope on God; and they can then pass on the faith to their children in the next generation. The question is, how can we do that? How does that work? Many people find it difficult enough to hang on to their own faith, let alone, make sure someone else believes.
First of all, we cannot make anyone else believe anything. Believing in Jesus cannot be forced on anyone. Jesus himself did not attempt to force faith onto anyone he met. He talked all the time about the importance of believing in God, and believing in Him as God’s Son, Savior of the world. But many people walked away from Jesus and from faith, and he always let them go.
So, the question is, how does this work? Well, it works different for everyone. We all walk a different path toward, or away from, Jesus, and our children will make their own way. But what we can pass on, are the habits of the faith. God’s Word is big on that, you know. There is even a commandment about it: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Remember to worship God at least once a week; and, say your prayers, and read the Bible. These are all the usual things that you have always heard about. We cannot force faith, but we can build in those habits that reinforce faith. And then, habits begun (or not begun) in childhood, are often continued (or not continued) later on. We cannot force faith, but we can create habits.
Such habits of the faith are not limited to sitting in church every Sunday morning, but can include any habit that reminds us of God. These habits can be regular mealtime prayers, bedtime prayers, Sunday school, Bible stories, and conversations about doing the right thing and making choices that would please God. Such habits can build strength into one’s faith; a strength that may endure into the next generation. To engage in none of these disciplines is to pay no attention to God at all, and that will certainly weaken faith. That weakening will continue down through the generations, until the children become what the survey calls “nones,” and there is no religious faith left whatsoever.
We all walk our own different paths to or away from the faith. Johnny Cash (1932-2003) walked an interesting path back and forth, to and from, faith in Jesus– but he did always come back. He lived hard, sinned mightily, battled addiction, had trouble in his relationships, and struggled with faith. But the habits of faith had been built into him in his childhood, he did keep returning to those habits, and he held on to the faith of his mother. Music was Johnny Cash’s life, so it is not surprising that his connection to the faith was primarily through music. His mother was always playing hymns on the piano, singing about Jesus to herself, and singing about Jesus to her children. Through that music, she was singing the faith into little Johnny, and then old Johnny returned to that faith.
When Carrie Cash died in 1991, her son John received her old hymnal. He was then about sixty years old, and was starting to think more about the end of this life and what was in store for him in the next life. He returned again to those hymns, and to those habits of the faith instilled in him so many years before. The focus of many of the hymns in that book is on the life to come. The title of the hymnal was Heavenly Highway Hymns. It was just what he needed, and it became one of his favorites. The songs are about how to get on, and stay on, that highway.
Johnny Cash recorded almost one-hundred albums in his long career. Of all those many albums, he said his favorite was the last one he did, released just a few months before he died. None of his best-known songs are on this album, none of the songs in that album were written by him, and there is no band behind him. It is just Johnny Cash, now an old man with his voice not quite what it used to be, playing his guitar, and singing fifteen of his favorite old Gospel hymns from his mother’s hymnbook. Each song is a testimony to the fact that Carrie had passed on her faith to the next generation.
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Dear Heavenly Father, make me the human channel, so far as in me lies, through which Thy divine love and pity may reach the hearts and lives of a few of those who are nearest to me. Amen. –John Baillie
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Two songs from Johnny Cash’s favorite album:
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