Now is Our Time

For David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, died… Acts 13:36 (NET)

It was once said that our lives consist of the dash between the 2 dates on our tombstone. In light of eternity, it is a short time and it reminds me of these lines from the poem by C. T. Studd:

Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

As we get older, we are likely to think more and more about our heritage and how we will be remembered but is that the most important thing for us to be doing? Instead of being concerned about our legacy, our primary desire must be for God’s glory. It would be good to recall the words of John the Baptist: “He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:30 (NIV).

The effort to be remembered is often a futile one. People of notoriety or fame are remembered for a while, but even they of late are being discarded into the scrap heap of history because they fail to measure up to the new standards of “wokeness.” Even less likely to be remembered, are ordinary people who lived in comparative obscurity. The memory of who we are and what we did will barely survive the lives of those we personally impacted.

We could lament our temporal impact and even be paralyzed by the thought of how fleeting our days seem to be, but instead, we should focus on how we can serve God’s purpose in our own generation. We are commissioned to make disciples and to do so effectively we must be present in the moment and not concerned as to whether anyone will remember us. Our concern should be to raise up sons and daughters, both natural and spiritual, and instill in them a passion for God and his kingdom.

There is an account in Scripture that is among the saddest things that I have ever read. Joshua and the other elders have passed from the scene and the baton has been passed to the next generation. Joshua and his peers accomplished the mighty and the valiant through the power of the Lord. They saw great victories, the Jordan River was crossed on dry land, the walls of Jericho fell, and they entered their inheritance. It was a time of great triumph and victory. But then that generation died as we read: That entire generation passed away; a new generation grew up that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel. Judges 2:10 (NET)

The heartbreaking thing about this is that it only took one generation for them to forget how great and awesome God is and what he had done. Instead of being disquieted about how we will be remembered, it would be more beneficial to take steps to ensure that the next generation knows about our mighty God.

How did this failure to experience God’s presence happen? An examination of the text would lead us to believe that the major contributing factor was that the previous generation left work unfinished. Instead of obedience, they compromised. The people who lived in the land served idols and false gods. Israel was instructed to tear down the idols and not enter into an agreement with the inhabitants of the land, but they capitulated and as a result, God declared what the consequences would be: At that time I also warned you, ‘If you disobey, I will not drive out the Canaanites before you. They will ensnare you and their gods will lure you away.’ ” Judges 2:3 (NET)

Leaving work unfinished is not only a failure to “serve God’s purpose in our generation,” it will also leave the next generation ignorant of the powerful presence of God. Obedience clarifies vision, our vision of God, and our vision of what he wants to accomplish in the world. Disobedience destroys vision: When there’s no vision, the people get out of control, but whoever obeys instruction is happy. Proverbs 29:18 (CEB)

The greatest inheritance that we can leave to those who come after us is the example of unwavering obedience and a commitment to serve the purposes of God “in our generation.” We must not allow ourselves to think that our legacy consists of anything besides the impact that we have had for the cause of Christ. Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke described the urgency of our mission this way: “We only have one generation to save a generation.”

Let us make it our prayer to fully obey God and to completely follow through with the work he has assigned to us. There is territory that must be claimed and possessed for the cause of the gospel. We pray that we will not succumb to compromise with the gods and idols of this world. We will recount and testify of the goodness and power of God to the next generation.

We know that we only have a short time and that our life is represented by a short dash between the date of our birth and the date of our death, so let us be determined to be faithful and true to our high calling. Now is our time.

Steve Ekeroth