Faithful Voices Of The Past

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11:4

I have a great desire to know about the past. Whenever I am in a crowd, I tend to gravitate towards older people. The reason is because I grew up with people all older than me and I like to hear what used to be in America. Unfortunately when I hear about what used to be I wished I had been born earlier than I was. The world which many older people lived in was far different and better than we experience today. The other unfortunate thing is that these voices are going into eternity one by one, and generations of history are being silenced. Some times we have the good fortune of having stories and wisdom recorded for us or at least written down. Stuff like this is a lasting memorial to them. Particularly of interest to me from the past is old hymns. I recently bought rather cheaply an old Revival Hymnal No.2 book from a local antique store. The book was published in 1910. I was surprised to find a lot of the hymns I knew, but the majority of them I didn't. Since I cannot read musical notes I cannot tell what the unfamiliar songs sound like, but I can read the words someone long gone has written. The words of these old hymns in my opinion far surpass in depth and scriptural meaning most anything put out today. It seems that folks 80 to 150 years ago perhaps knew the Lord better than people do today. It is at least evidenced in their writings. Nonetheless, the works were not done in vain, they survive in tattered print form for more generations to read and be challenged by.

With this in mind we know that there is absolutely nothing we can take out of this world with us into eternity, but there is a great deal we leave behind us that can potentially make a difference in someone else's life. I am not sure that Charles Wesley or Jonathan Edwards would have supposed when they penned the songs and sermons they did, that at the instant they dobbed the quill into the ink bottle they thought, "now this is going to be read and appreciated by millions long after I am dead." Yet whether they supposed it or not, they wrote what they did and God used it and still is using it. The same thing can be true for you. You may not be a great hymnwriter or Evangelist, but God has imparted to every believer a general and personal understanding of His Word. Such an understanding needs to be recorded for other's benefit.

Dr. Dennis Swanberg, famous Christian comedian, once recorded that good works done in our lives have recurring blessings for others in our future. Such blessings Dennis called "shade trees." You have it within yourself to be a source of immense blessing to others in your present but also in your future. If you can think of nothing you have done that will be of some benefit to others, ask God to give you a burden for some specific way you can invest in eternity.

So with all that introduction, how can we make a difference in someone's life that perhaps we do not know or has not even been born yet? Here are a few suggestions to appropriate age groups.

• Grandparents--what a privilege you have! I can say as a grandchild, what a treasure it to have a Godly example in a grandparent. As God leads, spend a whole day or maybe several days with your grandchildren (if you have several, space these times apart where you can make the most time with them as individuals). Talk to them about your days as a child or young person, but most importantly tell them about Spiritual challenges and victories you have had. Tell them how God led you through them and what you learned. If possible take them to the spot where you were led to Christ (perhaps a church or home place) and if they don't know Christ, by all means impart the Gospel to them. Show them literature, Bibles, teaching materials, etc that you learned and grew in Christ with. If they are old enough, trust them to take a memento with them that is given with the explanation of how it helped you to learn something about Christ better by either how you received it or how God spoke to you through it. Perhaps you can share with them some ways you wished you had done things differently in your earlier life and encourage them to follow Christ more closely to avoid problems later. You may not think the kids are listening, but it will stick with them, and later on in their adult lives, mean the world to them.


• Parents--Your job is right now. You are in control under Christ's supervision of your child's formative years. What you do and say now will form the basis for their decision making and character qualities as they will someday have their own families. Make a daily habit to talk to them about Christ. Challenge them to serve and to witness to their friends who may be not as privileged in the home as they are. Godly example and witness are paramount at this stage of life as one day what you do and say now will be in their minds and hearts later when you are not around. Their minds will replay what you invested in them either good or bad. Perhaps it would be good for you to write out some things about how you came to know the Lord, and then share some hopes you have for them about their future. This will be very special to them.


• Singles--Well we have no kids to pass down things to yet, but we have a world around us of young and old alike to impact. Ask God to help you find a way to minister to people who need to hear what you have to say. Start writing about the Faith in Christ. If you don't have it within you to write expositionally, just keep a journal. No one for years may ever read it, but its there available and God can use it to impact someone that you may never meet. So many times God uses our talents in a covert manner, that is, us never knowing the direct impact we are having on someone unknown, yet the impact is there.

The whole conclusion to this is that no matter in what stage of life you find yourself, the truth is one day you won't be in the world any longer. All that you are and all that you do will be only a memory. I think we would all agree that we would want our lives to count and be remembered for something significant. Such was the case of Abel in our reading today. The third or fourth human being ever to live, who surely would be forgotten after thousands of years is remembered by God for his act of obedience and faith. Then there is the Widow who cast her two mites, Mary who washed the feet of Jesus with costly ointment, or the Magi who traversed a great distance to see the newborn King of Kings. All of these people by all respects should have been forgotten as the sands of time shift, but their deeds and works for God were recorded so you and I could read, profit, and edify others with. That is the kind of life we all would want. A life that Jesus was clearly seen and remembered by the living. We should not want a temple or shrine built to our lives, but we should desire that the time spent on Earth was valuable.

What are you doing that will impact the future generations? If you have not seriously considered this, do so. There should more to your life than just a stone marker in a green pasture. Once you are in glory, you can no longer speak to the living on Earth, but if you leave a legacy that reflects Jesus Christ you will have done more than all the Alexanders, Caesars, Napoleons, Socrates, Platos, Einsteins, all put together could hope to do.

Someone once said, "Heaven and Earth will fade and pass, only those things done for Christ will last." You will be counted one day as a "voice of the past." May that voice be clear and helpful to others. As whoever finds something about you that is left behind, make sure it contains Jesus in word, action, plan, and history that will spur others to come to Him and know Him too.

Heavenly Father, please help us to consider making a difference in the world which we live in that something will be remembered after us for Your sake. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves, but cast all glory coming towards us, away from us and to Your throne. Yet Lord, we desire to help others and leave them with things that they will benefit spiritually by. So use us Lord to do just that. Help us not to be slothful, but as You give us the time, let us give the evidence of a changed life in you to impact future generations. In Your name, Amen.