Pastor Mike and Meredith Curtis

Passing the Torch

Curtises

by Pastor Mike Curtis

Over the centuries God has moved in awesome, powerful ways in bringing revival to entire countries. Our present day vantage point slows us to look in retrospect at these might visitations of God in the Wesleyan movement with John Wesley and George Whitfield; the First and Second Great Awakenings with men such as Jonathan Edwards and Charles Finney; and many more. Thousands, even millions, of people were dramatically changed as a result. The salt of the Gospel even profoundly influenced the cultures through these revivals. With each movement of God, however, came a corresponding failure on mans part -- his responsibility to keep these revival fire burning. To the point, Judges 2:7 & 10 says, The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. The pitfall of both Israel then and the church today has been its failure to train its children, those next in line to take the torch or revival. How can we properly train them so that this torch is not extinguished, and a new generation emerges with a vital, world-changing faith!

Curtises

Don't extinguish the torch

Before tackling this all-important question, lets ask ourselves first how we today are snuffing out these flames? Let me quickly paint a portrait of the typical Christian homeschooling family in America. The parents are very busy, but manage to squeeze in some personal devotions several times per week. This helps in starting the day off right just before dad heads off to the office and mom starts cracking the homeschool whip. The children plod through mathematics and history. Its time now for the Bible lesson and all listen tentatively as mom gives them some historical background of Samaritans before delving into John 4, where Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman. After science, lunch is promptly consumed (with prayer preceding) and a few other subjects are tackled before calling it quits for the day. Mom checks off these subjects covered in her homeschool organizer and begins to prepare for dinner as the little ones head out the door to play. Some time later, Dad arrives from home and shares some of the more complicated aspects of his exhausting day as the family sits down to a well-prepared meal. The children indulge in small talk as Dads audience slowly dwindles to just Mom. And then, of course, its moms turn. Soon its bedtime and the troops get ready. Just before going to bed (at least most nights), mom prays with them and kisses them goodnight.

The week progresses in this fashion until Saturday, where we find Dad busy in the garage trying to fix the mower while the children do some chores and again head out to play. Sundays pace is a little different with church in the morning and evening with a big meal, nap and movie sandwiched in between. Monday morning rolls around and the cycle starts again. Many at this point may be saying, Yes, that for the most part is us, but I see nothing wrong with it. We say this in part because that's what we grew up with (except for the homeschooling aspect) and we know nothing else. May I suggest a difficulty that most wrestle with that lies at the root of the problem? We compartmentalize our Christianity. We pray in our devotional time and at meals, but we fail to allow that discipline to permeate our day. We relegate teaching biblical principles to Bible lesson time and Sunday mornings alone. We teach secular history and biblical history as two separate subjects, creating a sense of dichotomy between the two. Growing up, my experience was similar, causing me to view the Bible set in unreal history, almost a fairy tale, though I believed it to be true. We cant afford to separate the two: All is genuine history and needs to be taught as such. Do we bring the Bible into subjects other than Bible Time? Dads, are we involving ourselves in this moment by moment process of discipling our children or do we delegate this task entirely to our wives? AS we all know, if we don't seize the opportunities to instill values into our children, we know who is all too willing to -- the world, society. So far it has fed us well with this compartmentalizing mentality, doing its best to squeeze the church, biblical principles and morality in general out of education and politics, and their encroachment continues. Our society is disrobing itself of every vestige of Christianity and morality -- and we are letting it!

This mentality has produced in the next generation some disturbing consequences. The Bible is seen as irrelevant and not applicable to daily life. Our faith is not endeared, but viewed as legalistic, rigid and cold. The result is rebellion, not a vital, world-changing faith. If we are to produce a generation that engages its culture with a biblical worldview, we must learn to walk moment by moment in a relevant faith that touches every aspect of life and leaves no stones unturned in its quest to change ourselves and this amoral generation!

Now let us return to our original question of How? Well, obviously, truncating our compartmentalist view is simply the beginning. I believe that God has a ready answer for us that takes a lifetime of implementation. Deuteronomy 6:4-8 tells us, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Curtises

Devotion to God

There are three keys this passage gives us in unlocking the answer to our question. The first is devotion to God. These verses, called the Shema (hear or listen), are often used by our Jewish friends to declare the singularity or oneness of God. To this we heartily agree. The word, however, translated one (echad) in verse 4 literally means a united one and is used for example in Genesis 2:24, in which husband and wife shall be united to become one flesh. The importance of this cannot be overlooked. We need to have a living relationship with each member of the Trinity -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A book could not deal with this subject sufficiently, but suffice it to say, for many this is seriously lacking. In addition, we must visibly live out this relationship before our children. When our oldest daughter, Katie Beth, was between two and three years old, she would often wake up relatively early and interrupt my devotional time with the Lord. After much complaining to the Lord about this habitual intrusion, God finally showed me the importance of this interruption for Katie Beth. Whether she wandered in during my prayer time, worship time, or Bible reading time, she observed first hand how her daddy was daily building a relationship with God.

This has happened with each successive child and God continues to reassure me of its importance. Recently, our youngest, Jenny Rose, who just turned two, interrupted me in my prayer time out on our porch. At times I enjoy walking around the room while I pray (partly because it helps keep me awake in the early morning). Jenny rose laid down her toys and began to follow me. At one point I turned around to find her mumbling Father, Father, and gesturing with her hands in similar fashion as myself. I couldn't help but laugh and cuddle her in my arms. As I learned, our children need us to exemplify our devotion to God in tangible ways such as this, or perhaps by including them in our Sunday morning worship (and just living with some of the distraction) or involving them more in our regular family worship time.

Curtises

Love is more important than knowledge...

The second point this passage teaches us is that love is more important than knowledge. The greatest commandment is not to know ABOUT God, but to LOVE God with all of our heart, soul, and strength. To often our regular time of Bible instruction is focused on knowledge rather than the application of that knowledge. I know of too many adults who can quote Scriptures and numerous Bible facts but who clearly and admittedly lack a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. This is not to say that knowledge is not important. II Peter 1:5-8 gives us the eight building blocks of faith, of which knowledge is the third and love is the eighth, the capstone, the ultimate goal. So, knowledge is very important when treated properly, a stepping stone to grow in character. As an end in itself, knowledge puffs up, producing pride, while love builds up (I Corinthians 8:1).

Later, we will discuss family devotions and the relevance of this principle, so let me highlight here the importance of regular thanksgiving to God in demonstrating our love for Him. Focus on answered prayer and build testimonies into our children that they can constantly look back to as a stake in the ground marking Gods faithfulness or mercy or love or provision. These will be anchors in years to come. God knew this and so instructed the Israelites to regularly remind their children of His might acts. Some recent testimonies come to mind that we as a family regularly thank God for in our worship time. Several months ago (editors note: 1994), we were near closing on our house purchase and ran into an unexpected eleventh hour snag. We appealed and asked to speak with the bank manager who wouldn't be in until after the weekend. Our three girls prayed furiously as mom and dad fasted and prayed with them. Come Monday, the bank manager called, immediately apologized, made amends, and signed our loan -- nothing short of a miracle and the girls knew it! God drove a stake in the ground.

On another occasion, while my wife and children were out of town and unbeknownst to me, Julianna, our second-oldest, prayed rather boldly that when her daddy went out to work the next day that although it may rain, it wouldn't rain where I was working (I tent-make by doing paint touch-up work on cars). Wouldn't you know, the next day a terrible thunderstorm enveloped our city (rather usual for a Central Florida summer afternoon) and was sure to cut my day short. However, I noticed that even though the clouds were moving, they seemed to encircle me rather than pass straight over. This continued throughout the afternoon, allowing me to work the full day, and a good one at that. That night when I called my wife and mentioned what had happened, she explained how Julianna had prayed for exactly that. God drove another stake in the ground.

Also, very recently, our finances were not going to permit us to attend a pastors conference, where I was to teach a workshop. We prayed and asked God to intervene. The weekend before we were to go, a friend handed us an envelope with a card and check that cover the long trip. Through this unforeseen gift God pounded yet another stake in the fertile ground of my daughters minds. As a result, our worship time as a family overflows with testimonies of thanksgiving to God for what He has done -- tangible, real-life application of what my girls are learning about God.

Curtises

Impress them on your children

The third and final principle this passage teaches us about how we are to pass the torch of revival on to the next generation is HOW we are to instill the Word of God in our children's hearts. These commands that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7) The Hebrew word translated here impress (shanan) comes from the word to whet or to sharpen. It appears in the intensive active form, so its meaning is heightened, to teach incisively. The imagery of the word portrays teachings that lay open the heart and penetrate like a knife. Is it any wonder that Hebrews 4:12 boldly declares, For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and intents of the heart. But we may rather readily admit, I'm not a particularly gifted teacher. How can I do this? God gives us a four-fold answer in verse 7 of Deuteronomy 6: when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. Notice that God answers our how question with when. As we will see, the implication is that the only way to impress (or teach incisively) the Word of God on our children is to focus on applying it in daily life situations as they arise!

Curtises

When you sit at home

The first of these four directives is when you sit at home. The idea is that the Word of God needs to be taught at every opportune life situation around the home. When Dad sits down to a hot dinner, does he chill the potential conversations with dreary, non-relatable exploits at the office? Perhaps Dad could share some incidents at work that could have direct bearing on personal character building. The office manager was more than a bit cranky today, so Dad, even as bothered by it as he was, sought an opportunity to encourage his boss and go out of his way to serve him -- the principle of love in the face of opposition clearly illustrated to his children in a real-life situation.

We enjoy watching a video now and then as a family and discussing it afterward. This regularly reinforces a (constructively) critical attitude toward what we read, see, or hear. Our children enjoy watching a particular show on video (made when shows actually sought to convey moral values). Occasionally, I get the chance to watch an episode with them and love highlighting underlying values with questions that require some thought and discussion. Discipline times in our home are another opportunity for incisive teaching, though not so cherished by our children. With each incident a format is followed: verbalizing the wrong, understanding its inappropriateness, suggestions of more appropriate behaviors or responses, punishment, prayer for help and change (they do this), reaffirmation of our love (perhaps a tickle thrown in), and making amends with any offending by the wrong.