“But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.” (Psalm 103:17-18)

A friend of mine and I were talking about aging and longevity and he remarked, “God has an interesting plan—every 100 years all new people.”  While what he said is not technically accurate, the way he put it does convey the truth that life on this side of heaven is generational.  One generation gives way to another. Think about sports for a moment. No matter how established you are and no matter how great your numbers are there comes a time to step aside and give the stage to the next generation of players. Over the course of your career, you go from learning from the players who came before you to teaching and mentoring the players who come after you.

We have a similar responsibility in our Christian walk—we learn from those who come before us and we teach those who come after us. And it’s important to remember that our time of influence is short. As David points out in Psalm 103:15-16, the verses just before the verses above: “As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and it’s place remembers it no more.” 

Because time is short our inter-generational responsibility to share the faith is a theme throughout scripture. Here’s one example from Psalm 78:4b-7.  “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.”

Remember, “every 100 years all new people” and live accordingly, learning from those who came before you and teaching those who come after you.