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Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins
A Great Generation
Editor’s Note: These thoughts are part of an article I wrote several years ago. Please read it again while considering the contribution of the generation that includes your parents (or grandparents) and mine. CBG
Some day we are will wake up and discover just how valuable “they” have been, and the impact “they” had on our lives and the whole nation. But by then, they may all be gone! Recent months and years have seen the passing of almost an entire generation of people. Of course that is the way life is, and we are not surprised at the passing of generations. But there is something unique about this one. This generation—my parents and their peers—exhibited qualities and had experiences that will not likely be seen or repeated again. And those qualities, as they vanish from our presence, will be missed by us all, even if we don’t have the good sense to realize it.
This is a generation that saw a Great Depression blossom in their youth, only to see it end in a tragic World War! This generation survived the threat of ravaging diseases, nuclear holocaust, and financial doom. They saw the development of great scientific advances in transportation, medicine, communication and, unfortunately, warfare and oppression. They heard promises of a “chicken in every pot” and a “Great Society” only to discover the emptiness of too many of those promises. They saw man bring suffering upon himself by crime, alcohol, violence, and ethical weakness. They saw a world turn from God to gold, pleasure and self-destruction.
Oh yes, they made mistakes, but they learned from them. And they worked! My generation may never know what downright hard work really is! Not like they worked (cotton fields, coal mines, foundries, railroad yards, factories and farms). The “work ethic” of that generation lived because of necessity, determination, survival and character. And a land of bountiful production resulted. Sociologists are even now discovering and writing about the value of a similar attitude toward work and industry in our own time.
What will it be like without “them”? Will their character and work attitudes survive? Or will a “me-first” generation succeed them, demanding more privileges and rights, yet offering less and less in exchange? Unfortunately, present signs do not look promising.
What will happen to the Lord’s church when this generation is gone, and if we forget the example they left behind? They usually were self-taught, or learned God’s Word at the feet of self-taught preachers. They studied “The Book” for themselves, then abandoned religious error because of that study. They taught their families, their friends, and their neighbors the same truth they had learned. They taught their Bible classes after having plowed in the fields, mended fences, or washed and ironed loads of clothes. (They did all of this, I might add, long before the advent of our modern machines and appliances).
They warned against the danger of “drifting” back to the world, and they resolved not to allow worldliness and weakness to take the church into apostasy. As elders they pastored the flock, and as deacons they served. As mothers and wives, they lovingly cared for their families, often in the shadow of hardship and a poverty that would have destroyed many in my generation. They wanted to be God’s people and were willing to do God’s will in God’s way. We cannot afford to lose sight of that attitude or their influence!
We had better hope, work and pray that these qualities do not die with their generation! Christians, both individually and collectively, need those qualities now as much as ever: hard work, courage, study, vigilance, endurance, humility, service, dedication, persistence, selflessness, generosity. With those traits we can overcome any of Satan’s opposition. Without them, we are not the Lord’s people.
To say “thanks” to a generation of people is not nearly enough! And yet, we owe them at least that much. We offer our deepest appreciation to each one of you - for surviving and for teaching us how to survive and to overcome. For those who have passed on, and those who are with us still, we express our heart-felt gratitude, and we promise that your legacy will not soon be forgotten.
The family, nation, home and even the generations of man have always been important in God’s scheme of things.
“For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children,” Psalms 78:5-6
May it not be said of us that we forgot our forebears; or that we did not “make known” to our children the manifold wisdom of Jehovah. That would be the ultimate proof of neglect and ingratitude.
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"What About Them Seven Ducks?"
I couldn’t resist this duck story, which happens to be true. One told of this brother in the church, a carpenter who was an unlearned man without any formal education. His employer took the job of building a denominational meeting-house. The denominational preacher, knowing of the man’s lack of a formal education, delighted in making himself seen around the building, and in particular, picking on the man, knowing him to be one of those “Church of Christers.”
One day, the denominational preacher was speaking of his man-made doctrine of salvation by “faith only.” As he was making his point, the brother in Christ spoke up, “But how about them seven ducks?” Everyone thought he had missed the entire point under discussion, and the denominational preacher didn’t understand at all what he meant. The carpenter went on to explain how that Naaman, to obtain cleansing, was told to go “duck” in the Jordan River seven times! “Them seven ducks” meant that obedience to God’s will was required, and therefore, “faith only” was a false doctrine!
This good brother never claimed to be a preacher or teacher, and never would he claim that he was a “smart” man. But he stopped the mouth of a false teacher, showing him how SEVEN DUCKS entered the picture! He may have been unlearned, but he had the courage and wisdom to say, “But how about them seven ducks?” (See 2 Kings 5:1-14)
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